Injury to the cervical spinal cord can cause quadriplegia, impairing muscle function in all four limbs. People with impaired hand function and mobility encounter significant difficulties in carrying out essential self-care and household tasks. Despite the impairment of their neural drive, their volitional myoelectric activity is often partially preserved. High-density electromyography (HDEMG) can detect this myoelectric activity, which can serve as control inputs to assistive devices. Previous HDEMG-controlled robotic interfaces have primarily been limited to controlling table-mounted robot arms. These have constrained reach capabilities. Instead, the ability to control mobile manipulators, which have no such workspace constraints, could allow individuals with quadriplegia to perform a greater variety of assistive tasks, thus restoring independence and reducing caregiver workload. In this study, we introduce a non-invasive wearable HDEMG interface with real-time myoelectric hand gesture recognition, enabling both coarse and fine control over the intricate mobility and manipulation functionalities of an 8 degree-of-freedom mobile manipulator. Our evaluation, involving 13 participants engaging in challenging self-care and household activities, demonstrates the potential of our wearable HDEMG system to profoundly enhance user independence by enabling non-invasive control of a mobile manipulator.

翻译：颈脊髓损伤可能导致四肢瘫痪，损害所有四肢的肌肉功能。手部功能和活动能力受损的人在进行基本的自我护理和家务活动时面临重大困难。尽管神经驱动受损，但他们的自主肌电活动往往部分保留。高密度肌电图（HDEMG）可检测这种肌电活动，用作辅助设备的控制输入。以往由HDEMG控制的机器人界面主要限于控制桌面安装的机械臂，这限制了其可达能力。相比之下，能够控制无此类工作空间限制的移动机械臂，可使四肢瘫痪者执行更多样化的辅助任务，从而恢复独立性并减少照护者负担。本研究引入了一种非侵入式可穿戴HDEMG界面，具备实时肌电手势识别功能，可对8自由度移动机械臂的复杂移动和操作功能进行粗调和精调控制。我们对13名参与者进行了涉及挑战性自我护理和家务活动的评估，结果表明我们的可穿戴HDEMG系统通过实现对移动机械臂的非侵入式控制，具有显著增强用户独立性的潜力。