Multifunctional prosthesis and orthosis control via microcomputer identification of temporal pattern differences in single-site myoelectric signals

The paper discusses results of on-line tests on amputees and hemiplegics of multifunctional prostheses and orthoses control by identifying the parameters of single-site temporal EMG signal signatures. The results relate to tests on above-elbow amputees, on shoulder-disarticulation amputees (including a congenital disarticulation amputee) and on hemiplegics, varying from 5 to 50 years of age. The system employed is based on an 8-bit Intel 8080 microprocessor, when computation is in double precision, to obtain an effective 16-bit work-length. The system employs a sequential least-squares algorithm to identify a 4-parameter auto-regressive time-series model of the EMG signal, and a Bayesian rule discrimination algorithm.