Simulation system for myoelectric hand prosthesis using augmented reality

PubDate: March 2018

Teams: Saga University

Writers: Yunan He; Osamu Fukuda; Shunsuke Ide; Hiroshi Okumura; Nobuhiko Yamaguchi; Nan Bu

PDF: Simulation system for myoelectric hand prosthesis using augmented reality

Abstract

This paper proposes a simulation system that provides close to the real experience of wearing and operating a virtual hand prosthesis with the help of augmented reality (AR) technology. The system allows user wearing a virtual hand prosthesis in an AR scene and the created scene is visual feedback through a display. Meanwhile, the user can operate the virtual hand with his own electromyography (EMG) signals. The system aims at improving the sense of reality when the user tries to operate a virtual hand prosthesis. Efforts have been made in three aspects. We design a virtual hand 3D model which approximates to a real hand in terms of dimensions and kinematics and present an AR environment realization technique using the Microsoft Kinect. To anticipate the hand movement, an EMG-based motion discrimination method using recurrent neural network is also proposed. User evaluation shows that the system improves the realism in wearing and controlling a virtual hand. The system is developed as a prototype for performing task training or control evaluation for myoelectric hand prosthesis.