Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The proposed electromyogram (EMG) measurement system consists of an 8-channel amplifier with its standard accessories including patient/subject unit, battery pack, waist belt, transmission cable, a surface pre-amplifier with reference, seven surface pre-amplifiers without reference, one footswitch pair, power cord, and biploe electrodes. The proposed equipment is generic, and, due to its wide range of applications (e.g., in robotics, teleoperation, ergonomics, human factor studies, and biomedical engineering) can be used by many researchers within diverse disciplines. Due to the important role of the human arm in daily control tasks, and with increasing demands for high-precision (human) shared control systems, the applicants have focused on human arm modeling, control, and related human factor studies. The applicants have recently developed an arm fixture, equipped with force-torque sensor to measure elbow-induced torques. The proposed EMG measurement system will be integrated to the existing arm fixture for realizing a state-of-the-art arm measurement and modeling apparatus for researchers at Ryerson and, even, other universities. The facility will be primarily used to support research programs focusing on human arm modeling, functional assessment, and control studies. The proposed equipment and the developed facility will support a few research programs related to orthotics, ergonomics, workspace design, haptics, and teleoperation, including (i) modeling, assessment, and control of arm functions; (ii) human factors in the design of work systems; and (iii) human factors analysis of haptic devices and human-in-the-loop delay compensation. In addition to the applicants, graduate and senior undergraduate students will use this facility to extend their theoretical methods related to human functional analysis. Furthermore, the developed facility will be also open to other researchers, primarily from Ryerson University and the University of Waterloo. Due to the multi-disciplinary usage of the equipment, the proposed facility will further promote Ryerson's inter-disciplinary research and training potential.