TY - GEN
T1 - EMG control of robotic reaching by people with tetraplegia improved through proprioceptive and force feedback
AU - Corbett, Elaine A.
AU - Sachs, Nicholas A.
AU - Perreault, Eric J.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Trajectory decoding from neural signals may be useful for the restoration of reach to paralyzed arms through functional electrical stimulation or the control of robotic arms or computer interfaces. Electromyograms (EMGs) are a popular non-invasive choice of signal source for neuroprosthetic interfaces but continuous trajectory control is challenging, especially when the set of muscles that can be recorded from is limited. One reason for this difficulty is that many applications provide only visual feedback to the users. In addition to motor impairments, spinal cord injury (SCI) may alter or eliminate sensation in the arm below the level of injury. We tested an EMG-controlled robot-assisted reaching task, in which the arm was moved in congruence with the output of the decoder, in 5 individuals with cervical SCI and 5 healthy controls. We also evaluated remote control of the robot, where the congruent sensory feedback at the arm was removed. We found a significant drop in performance without feedback at the arm that was larger for the individuals with SCI. Despite their sensory impairments, moving their arms as part of the task enabled functional control of reach that was impossible without the additional sensory information.
AB - Trajectory decoding from neural signals may be useful for the restoration of reach to paralyzed arms through functional electrical stimulation or the control of robotic arms or computer interfaces. Electromyograms (EMGs) are a popular non-invasive choice of signal source for neuroprosthetic interfaces but continuous trajectory control is challenging, especially when the set of muscles that can be recorded from is limited. One reason for this difficulty is that many applications provide only visual feedback to the users. In addition to motor impairments, spinal cord injury (SCI) may alter or eliminate sensation in the arm below the level of injury. We tested an EMG-controlled robot-assisted reaching task, in which the arm was moved in congruence with the output of the decoder, in 5 individuals with cervical SCI and 5 healthy controls. We also evaluated remote control of the robot, where the congruent sensory feedback at the arm was removed. We found a significant drop in performance without feedback at the arm that was larger for the individuals with SCI. Despite their sensory impairments, moving their arms as part of the task enabled functional control of reach that was impossible without the additional sensory information.
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U2 - 10.1109/NER.2013.6696149
DO - 10.1109/NER.2013.6696149
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84897712605
SN - 9781467319690
T3 - International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, NER
SP - 1178
EP - 1181
BT - 2013 6th International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, NER 2013
T2 - 2013 6th International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, NER 2013
Y2 - 6 November 2013 through 8 November 2013
ER -