Fabric Sensing of Intrinsic Hand Muscle Activity

摘要

Wearable robotics has the capacity to assist and rehabilitate hand function in stroke survivors. Many devices that use surface electromyography (sEMG) for control rely on extrinsic hand muscle signals, since sEMG sensors are relatively easy to place on the forearm without interfering with hand function. In this work, we target the intrinsic muscles of the thumb, which are superficial to the skin and thus potentially more accessible via sEMG sensing. Traditional, rigid electrodes can not be placed on the hand without adding bulk and affecting hand functionality. We thus present a novel sensing sleeve that uses textile electrodes to measure sEMG activity of intrinsic thumb muscles. We evaluate the sleeve's performance on detecting thumb movements and muscle activity during both isolated and isometric muscle contractions of the thumb and fingers. This work highlights the potential of textile-based sensors as a low-cost, lightweight, and non-obtrusive alternative to conventional sEMG sensors for wearable robotics.