My initial reaction was "What is this? What does this have to do with my project? and Why?"
Turns out it is really important for my project. It is called a Myo Armband, and it is literally the future. At its core, this device is a gesture control accessory. So for your computer, you can install it and use it as a mouse, you can use it to stop a video, you can use it to play Fruit Ninja(which is really fun), and you can even use it to control a drone. For those of you who have seen Iron Man, you know how he interacts with the holograms using his hands, yeah, this is a step towards that. That could be a reality in the next few years using this technology. I have included gifs of some of what it can do below, but the main point is that it is really cool!
So, I got this device and I realized that the way this armband works is really important for my project. Like most of you learned in biology, the muscles that control your hand and finger movement are actually in your forearm. So what this armband does is that it uses 8 sensors and records EMG data. What is EMG you ask? I will explain...
Electromyography, abbreviated as EMG, is the recording of muscle movement as a motor response. It measures the electrical response to the motor neuron signal sent to the muscles in your body. EMG is often used to determine muscle health and to identify nerve damage, carpal tunnel, Lou Gehrig's disease and pinched nerves.
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| An Electromyogram, plotted as Voltage over Time |
The Arm band uses the EMG's in your forearms that correspond to movements of your fingers. It is able to record the EMG data in an electromyogram, that kind of looks like a polygraph test. What does it have to do with my project? It is literally one of the main pillars for my project. Prosthetics record EMG's as a way to communicate with your mind. So the device that I will be using, the Softhand Pro, has an electrode to communicate with EMG's as to whether the hand should open or close. The use of EMG's with prosthetics actually classifies a division of prosthetics known as Myoprosthetics.
Although this device was created as a consumer electronic, it works as an EMG recording device for my project. This week I worked with this and got it to communicate with MATLAB. This means that when I begin the simulations, I can record the EMG's and take those into account as well.
I hope I explained this clearly. If you have any questions, feel free to comment down below. My week was essentially just playing around with this armband device. Oh, also here are gifs, of what the armband can do.
See you all next week!
