These are electrical potentials arising from muscle movements. They originate from the motor cortex when the brain sends action potentials along appropriate nerve tracts. They then transmit to the muscle groups, resulting in contractions of the muscle fibers, and are accessible as bioelectric signals under direct volitional control.
Published in Chapter:
Myoelectric Control of Prosthetic Devices for Rehabilitation
Rami N. Khushaba (University of Technology, Australia) and Adel A. Al-Jumaily (University of Technology, Australia)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 7
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-889-5.ch119
Abstract
Bio-signals patterns analysis problems have enjoyed a rapid increase in popularity in the past few years. The electromyography (EMG) signal, also referred to as the Myoelectric signal (MES), recorded at the surface of the skin, is one of the biosignals generated by the human body, representing a collection of electrical signals from the muscle fibre, acting as a physical variable of interest since it first appeared in the 1940s (Scott, 1984). It was considered to be the main focus of scientists, and was advanced as a natural approach for the control of prosthesis, since it is utilising the electrical action potential of the residual limb’s muscles remaining in the amputee’s stump (which still has normal innervations, and thus is subject to voluntary control) as a control signal to the prosthesis—in other words, it allows amputees to use the same mental process to control their prosthesis as they had used in controlling their physiological parts; however, the technology in that time was not adequate to make clinical application viable. With the development of semiconductor devices technology, and the associated decrease in device size and power requirements, the clinical applications saw promise, and research and development increased dramatically.