Wireless EMG-based Human-Computer Interface for Persons with Disability

This paper proposes a wireless EMG-based human-computer interface (HCI) for persons with disabilities. For the HCI, four interaction commands are defined by combining three elevation motions of shoulders such as left, right and both elevations. The motions are recognized by comparing EMG signals on the Levator scapulae muscles with double thresholds. A real-time EMG processing hardware is implemented for acquiring EMG signals and recognizing the motions. To achieve real-time processing, filters such as high- and low-pass filter and band-pass and -rejection filter, and a full rectifier and a mean absolute value circuit are embedded on a board with a high speed microprocessor. The recognized results are transferred to a wireless client system such as a mobile robot via a Bluetooth module. From experimental results using the implemented real-time EMG processing hardware, the proposed wireless EMG-based HCI is feasible for the disabled.