2020 6th International Conference on Advanced Computing & Communication Systems (ICACCS)
Design and Development of EMG Based
Prosthetic Arm
Ashik Ali Abdhul
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
KAHE, Coimbatore
ashikkihsa7@gmail.com
Deepika Subramani
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
KAHE, Coimbatore
deepika.220799@gmail.com
Sadhana Subramaniam
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
KAHE, Coimbatore
sadhanas875@gmail.com
Abstract—The Prosthetic arm is a device for people who
are suffering from paralyzed human parts. In this
project we use the signals from the muscles which are
called electromyography. The main challenge in the
prosthesis is the lack of a portable and powerful
embedded system. We present a design and development
of EMG based prostheses for upper arm prosthetics that
can overcome many limitations over myoelectric
movements. Neuromuscular signals are also used to
estimate force and torque to actuate the prosthetic
device. In sense to obtain required output the sensing
system and control system work accordingly. Our
prototype will serve as a platform for several new
features and an elegant way for a natural and intuitive
prosthesis.
Keywords—EMG (electromyography), prosthetic arm,
prototype.
I. INTRODUCTION
EMG is a biological signal which is produced by
muscle tension. It is non-stationary and highly complex.
There are two kinds of EMG: (1) surface EMG, (2) needle
EMG. In surface EMG the signals from the body’s intact
musculature are used to control the externally powered
prosthesis. The surface electrodes are made up of silver
chloride pre-gelled electrodes. There are two types of
extremities namely upper and lower. To perform the day to
day life activities like dressing, eating, writing and grabbing,
we provide a solution by an artificial arm. The action
potential ranges from -80mv to +30mv. The depolarization
and repolarization processes of the muscle fiber produce the
exact EMG signals required for the function of the
prosthesis. In modern days, many commercial prosthetic
devices are available. In muscle physiology, the excitability
of muscle fibers using prosthesis is an advanced method for
an amputee. EMG signals from the muscle movements are
complex to analyze, hence they are amplified and rectified
by the processing before it is fed into controller. Figure1
displays a typical model of the prosthetic arm connected
with the controller and prosthesis.
Janarthanan Ganesan
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
KAHE, Coimbatore
janarthananjana980@gmail.com
K.G.Dharani
Associate Professor, Dept. of ECE
KAHE, Coimbatore
dharani_vlsi@yahoo.co.in
Figure 1: Model of prosthetic arm
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Design and construction
The entire network consists of three main parts: (1)
Portable EMG sensor, (2) Arduino controlled system which
controls prosthetic hand, (3) Prosthetic arm. The Typical
control procedure transmits three-channel EMG data to the
controller system through an Arduino communication
protocol. The Arduino will perform the algorithm and
generate output every two seconds.
B. The function of a prosthetic arm
In this system, we use signals from the muscles for
user-centered needs. Myoelectric signals have been used in
various biological applications. These signals are used to
control the prosthetic arm. Myo-signals are a weak signal
which is subjected to amplification by the amplifier circuits.
The amplified signals are then filtered to eliminate the
motion artifacts. It increases the accurateness of the signal
and reduces the environment and device noise [1]. The
degree of closeness was achieved by the elimination of
artifacts. Fig.2 displays the EMG control mechanism and
its sequences.
Figure 2: EMG control mechanism and its sequences
978-1-7281-5197-7/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
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2020 6th International Conference on Advanced Computing & Communication Systems (ICACCS)
C. Working principle of EMG sensor
2) Instrumentation amplifier: In this system, the
instrumentation acts as a differential amplifier and removes
electromagnetic noise which the body has picked up. In the
case of EMG amplification, the signal is mostly noise. So,
this specification plays a major role to acquire an accurate
signal. The instrumentation amplifier strengthens the weak
signal that is obtained from the body of the patient.
3) Active low pass filter: The low pass filter stops the lowfrequency signals and allows the high-frequency signals to
pass through. [6].The attenuation of frequencies above their
cut-off points removes high-frequency noise interference.
The cut-off frequency of a low pass filter is about 482 Hz.
This system uses 1st order active low pass filter.
Figure 3: Working of EMG electrodes
EMG muscle sensors are used in clinical and
biomedical applications. These signals are used as a control
signal for prosthetic devices like prosthetic hands, arms, and
lower limbs. The subject is said to be at a stationary state to
eliminate artifacts produced by the electrodes. Four different
movements can be executed by the subject. The individual
finger movements consist of flexions and extensions,
rotation and abduction can be achieved [10][11]. Each
finger is capable of moving up to 25 degrees. The hand is
capable of rotation up to 180 degrees. The circuit consists of
three, coloured surface electrodes namely red, green and
yellow. Red acts as the reference electrode, yellow acts as
the active electrode, and green acts as the ground electrode.
The prosthetic arm is controlled by the generated EMG
signal.
III. BLOCK DIAGRAM
Figure 4: Block diagram of the system
A. Components of the system
1) Surface electrodes: Surface electrodes are the type of
electrodes that are used to obtain the potential from the skin
surface. These electrodes sense various signals from the
heart, brain, and muscles and produce ECG, EEG, and
EMG. The ECG signals are sensed by the large surface
electrodes, whereas EEG and EMG signal by the smaller
electrodes [7]. Here small pre-gelled surface electrodes are
used.
978-1-7281-5197-7/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
4) Arduino: The Arduino integrated development
environment is a cross platform for windows written in C
and C++ in which C is the most commonly used program.
The type of Arduino employed here is Arduino Uno, It is
quite small and functional. A software library code is
attached to the arduino file to maintain input and output
signals. [5].When the codes have executed the inputs and
outputs interact with the sensors.
5) Servo Motor: A servo motor is coupled to the sensor for
position feedback. The rotatory actuator is used in this
application for a high degree of accuracy. The variation
between the reference angle and the required angle is
measured for the high accuracy rate [3]. Therefore servo
motors are often chosen as the best actuator for this
application.
IV APPLICATIONS
Prosthetic devices play a major role in
rehabilitation. It increases mobility and the ability to
manage household activities. The main purpose of
prostheses is to restore the normal function of the missing
body part. It is achieved by the software interfaced with the
hardware designs. The various levels of amputation used in
the upper extremity prostheses include shoulder
disarticulation, transradial and transhumeral prosthesis. This
main application of this project is better convenience for the
amputee due to the lightweight prosthetic arm. The
electrical tension produced by the voluntarily contracted
muscles controls the movements of a prosthesis such as an
elbow flexion/extension and wrist pronation. This
application increases the chance for us to develop an EMG
based prosthetic arm.
V RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Objective and motivation
The main objective is to develop a cost-efficient
prosthetic arm that can be used by almost all the people of
our country. To discover a prosthesis by using the EMG
signals generated in the own body of amputees we design a
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2020 6th International Conference on Advanced Computing & Communication Systems (ICACCS)
prosthetic arm that is easy to handle and doesn’t cause any
discomfort to the patients. Most of the people in our country
don’t opt for prosthesis arm because of its high cost. Now it
is possible to provide a prosthetic arm that can be affordable
for common people [4]. We obtained 5 degrees of freedom
with 2 fingers. The two finger motion is very easy for
grasping the object. The prosthetic system, we developed
will be very cheap and can be affordable for people living in
developing countries like India.
B. Advantages of the system
x It can be easily fitted on humans.
x Signals can be taken easily from the human body
x It did not have any effect on the human part.
x Use to get a control over the device.
C. Problems in the existing system
The problems faced in the existing system include
poor balance, instability, or a fear of failing, general fatigue
and reduced mobility, irritation and skin diseases, socket
issues or discomfort. These problems can be rectified to
90% with the help of our project.
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D. Obtained Output
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Figure 5: Output of the system
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VI CONCLUSION
This work successfully depicted the potential of the
EMG signals and provides insight to the improvement of the
prostheses. We conclude that this strategy would be a
gradual improvement over traditional myoelectric control
prostheses. Therefore, the goal is to create a low-cost
prosthetic arm by using electromyography data collected
from the patient’s forearm itself. This paper provides a
novel design and actuation system for a prosthetic arm. The
execution of the action is similar to the human hand
movements. Our future work is based on a conventional
based prosthetic arm with added specifications. It would get
the amputee a feeling of his/her body functioning without
any consequences.
978-1-7281-5197-7/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
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