Muscle substitutes and myo-electric control

Control of Upper Limb Prostheses: Terminology and Proportional Myoelectric Control—A Review

“…Similar qualities can also be seen, though with inferior fidelity, in most body powered prosthesis systems, to the extent that a harness and cable physically link the movement of a body part to the movement of the prosthesis. It is therefore not surprising that the notion of proportional myoelectric control was introduced as early as in the 1950's by Battye [11], Bottomley [12]- [14] and Rothchild [15], [16].…”

“…Mean absolute value (MAV) was the feature used by Bottomley [12]- [14] when he suggested a solution in 1963. He described proportional control of a force-and velocity-feedback powered hook, allowing for speed control when moving freely and force control when gripping.…”

Myoelectric Signals in Control of Prostheses: Studies on Arm Amputees and Normal Individuals

“…Thereforc, if the myoelectric signal is only utilized for on-off control of the prosthesis, a great deal of signal information will never be extracted. An important ad-vance in prosthetic research was made when a prosthesis model was introduced which could utilize the myoelectric signals for proportional control of pneumatic as well as electric power supplies (Bottomley, 1962;Bottomley, Kinnier Wilson & Nightingale, 1963). Bottomley & Cowell (1964) reported a method to obtain proportional control of a myoelectrically controlled split-hook.…”

“…Bottomley & Cowell (1964) reported a method to obtain proportional control of a myoelectrically controlled split-hook. Skin electrodes were used to receive myoelectric signals from the forearm extensors and flexors, and the difference signal (Bottomley et al, 1963) between the electrodes was utilized to control both the speed of movement and the force of grip when the hook opened and closed. This was achieved by two feed-back signals, one of which depended on the speed and the other on the force of grip.…”

“…Another problem connected with skin electrodes is that they pick up signals from a rather large area, and thus activity from neighbouring muscles also. It has been stated that when two antagonistic muscles are utilized for separate control functions, signals produced by one of the muscles should also be picked up by the electrode belonging to the other muscle , resulting in so-called cross-talk (Bottomley et al, 1963). It has been a subject of discussion whether this cross-talk actually does or does not consist of simultaneous interference activity of the antagonist.…”