Fully Implantable Multichannel EMG Measurement System: First Results

Recently developed state of the art upper extremity prostheses feature an ever-increasing number of degrees of freedom (DoF). This added functionality and dexterity is of limited use unless new ways of prostheses control will be developed. Currently control with two surface electrodes, allowing sequential control of each DoF separately, is still most often found. Efficient use of dexterous hand-prostheses though requires an intuitive and simultaneous control scheme. This generally will also require an increasing number of control signals. These can be acquired by application of advanced signal processing techniques on the electromyogram (EMG) measured at the skin surface, or by means of implantable EMG measurement systems. The latter aim at providing more independent and intuitively generated control signals by acquisition of the EMG directly on single muscles. The following article will first give a short overview of some of these systems and will then present one such system - the MyoPlant system - in more detail. In this part, we will present a system overview as well as first EMG data collected in sheep.