Teleoperation of a robot manipulator using EMG signals and a position tracker

A methodology for a robotic manipulator teleoperation is presented. The proposed method can realize a new master-slave manipulator system that uses no mechanical master controller but electromyographic (EMG) signals from the muscles of a human arm. EMG signals are acquired from biceps brachii, main responsible muscle for elbow flexion. The robot elbow is controlled using joint angle computed from EMG signal during smooth forearm motion, while the shoulder of the robot is controlled by a position tracker placed on the user's arm. Identification techniques are used to approximate the user-dependent parameters of the model used to compute the elbow angle based on EMG signals.