Human?Machine Interfacing by Decoding the Surface Electromyogram [Life Sciences]

Human-machine interfacing (HMI) uses biological signals, such as brain signals,and translates them into control commands for external devices. An exciting application of HMI is the active control of robotic limbs that substitute lost body parts (bionic reconstruction).Despite recent progresses in brain-computer interfacing [1], muscle electrical potentials are still the most important input for clinical HMI. The ensemble electrical activity of a muscle, the electromyogram (EMG), is generated by the neural activation of the motor neurons innervating the muscle and thus contains information on the neural control of movement. Muscle recordings can be performed noninvasively (surface EMG) by electrodes located on the skin to record the electrical activity of the underlying muscle fibers. This recording modality has advantages compared to other HMI modalities, such as those based on implanted electrodes, in terms of long-term stability, biocompatibility, reduced risks of infections, and ethical constraints.