4.7 Article

Non-Invasive, Temporally Discrete Feedback of Object Contact and Release Improves Grasp Control of Closed-Loop Myoelectric Transradial Prostheses

Publisher

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2015.2500586

Keywords

Haptic interface; sensory substitution; upper limb prosthetics; virtual eggs test; wearable technology

Funding

  1. European Commission under the WAY Project [FP7-ICT-288551]
  2. Swedish Research Council [VR 2011-3128]
  3. Italian Ministry of Education University and Research, under the FIRB MY-HAND Project [RBFR10VCLD]

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Human grasping and manipulation control critically depends on tactile feedback. Without this feedback, the ability for fine control of a prosthesis is limited in upper limb amputees. Although various approaches have been investigated in the past, at present there is no commercially available device able to restore tactile feedback in upper limb amputees. Based on the Discrete Event-driven Sensory feedback Control (DESC) policy we present a device able to deliver short-lasting vibrotactile feedback to transradial amputees using commercially available myoelectric hands. The device (DESC-glove) comprises sensorized thimbles to be placed on the prosthesis digits, a battery-powered electronic board, and vibrating units embedded in an arm-cuff being transiently activated when the prosthesis makes and breaks contact with objects. The consequences of using the DESC-glove were evaluated in a longitudinal study. Five transradial amputees were equipped with the device for onemonth at home. Through a simple test proposed here for the first time-the virtual eggs test-we demonstrate the effectiveness of the device for prosthetic control in daily life conditions. In the future the device could be easily exploited as an add-on to complement myoelectric prostheses or even embedded in prosthetic sockets to enhance their control by upper limb amputees.

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