A myocontrolled neuroprosthesis integrated with a passive exoskeleton to support upper limb activities

作者：Ambrosini Emilia^*; Ferrante Simona; Schauer Thomas; Klauer Christian; Gaffuri Marina; Ferrigno Giancarlo; Pedrocchi Alessandra

来源：Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 2014, 24(2): 307-317.

DOI：10.1016/j.jelekin.2014.01.006

• Neuromuscular electrical stimulation
• Myocontrolled neuroprosthesis
• M-wave
• Volitional EMG
• Neurological disorders
• Rehabilitation

This work aimed at designing a myocontrolled arm neuroprosthesis for both assistive and rehabilitative purposes. %26lt;br%26gt;The performance of an adaptive linear prediction filter and a high-pass filter to estimate the volitional EMG was evaluated on healthy subjects (N = 10) and neurological patients (N = 8) during dynamic hybrid biceps contractions. A significant effect of filter (p = 0.017 for healthy; p %26lt; 0.001 for patients) was obtained. The post hoc analysis revealed that for both groups only the adaptive filter was able to reliably detect the presence of a small volitional contribution. %26lt;br%26gt;An on/off non-linear controller integrated with an exoskeleton for weight support was developed. The controller allowed the patient to activate/deactivate the stimulation intensity based on the residual EMG estimated by the adaptive filter. Two healthy subjects and 3 people with Spinal Cord Injury were asked to flex the elbow while tracking a trapezoidal target with and without myocontrolled-NMES support. Both healthy subjects and patients easily understood how to use the controller in a single session. Two patients reduced their tracking error by more than 60% with NMES support, while the last patient obtained a tracking error always comparable to the healthy subjects performance (%26lt;4 degrees). %26lt;br%26gt;This study proposes a reliable and feasible solution to combine NMES with voluntary effort.

• 出版日期2014-4