NRI: Small: EEG and EMG Human Model-Based Adaptive Control of a Dexterous Artificial Hand

该奖项的研究目标是探索上肢截肢者用脑电波控制灵巧假手的不同方法。生物医学信号处理技术将被开发，以实现这一点，一个单一的，小的记录电极放置在截肢者的头部非侵入性。记录下来的脑电波将以无线方式真实的传输到手上。一个顶级的控制器将被开发来解释截肢者的意图，而一个低级别的控制器将被用来同步灵巧的假手的抓取动作。还将开发使用指尖触觉反馈的算法，以自动防止抓取的物体在运输或干扰时意外掉落。截肢者将参与一项研究，比较新开发的脑波假手控制技术和传统的肌肉信号控制技术在日常生活中的常见任务。如果成功，这项研究将为截肢者提供一种非侵入性和经济的方法，用脑波控制灵巧的假手。这可以大大改善许多截肢者假手的功能。使用最少的硬件将促进该技术的临床采用，并且自主低级控制算法将产生对操作者施加低认知负担的脑机接口。这项研究也可以很容易地应用于许多残疾人，包括中风患者和四肢瘫痪者，并可以积极影响机器人技术的其他领域，如简易爆炸物裁军，水下和太空探索以及救援机器人。代表性不足的工程专业学生将受益于被列入本研究计划。此外，本科生和研究生工程专业的学生将受益于新开发的课程和实验室练习，从这项研究中产生。

The research goal of this award is to explore different methods for upper limb amputees to control dexterous artificial hands with brain waves. Biomedical signal processing techniques will be developed to enable this with a single, small recording electrode placed noninvasively on the amputees' heads. The recorded brain waves will be wirelessly transmitted to the hand in real time. A top-level controller will be developed to interpret the intent of the amputees while a low-level controller will be used to synchronize the dexterous grasp motions of the artificial hand. Algorithms will also be developed using tactile feedback from the fingertips to automatically prevent grasped objects from being accidentally dropped when they are transported or disturbed. Amputees will participate in a study to compare the newly developed artificial hand control techniques with brain waves to conventional control techniques with muscle signals during common tasks of daily life.If successful, this research will result in a noninvasive and economic method for amputees to control a dexterous artificial hand with brain waves. This could substantially improve the functionality of prosthetic hands for many amputees. The use of minimal hardware will facilitate the clinical adoption of this technique and the autonomous low-level control algorithms will produce a brain machine interface that places a low cognitive burden on the operator. This research can also be readily applied to benefit many disabled people including stroke victims and quadriplegics and can positively impact other areas of robotics such as improvised explosive disarmament, underwater and space exploration, and rescue robotics. Underrepresented engineering students will benefit from being included in this research plan. Additionally, undergraduate and graduate engineering students will benefit from newly developed classes and laboratory exercises resulting from this research.