A “Biomechatronic EPP” Upper-Limb Prosthesis Control Configuration and its Performance Comparison to Other Control Configurations

Abstract

Upper-limb prosthetic technology has significantly changed in recent years. The devices available and those under development, have progressed the state of the art considerably. However, most are based on velocity control and fail to activate the proprioception of the amputee, as they do not provide their user with adequate feedback. A novel control configuration called “Biomechatronic EPP” has been developed to overcome these shortcomings, which is based on the concept of the Extended Physiological Proprioception (EPP), an upper-limb prosthesis proven to be functionally superior to velocity control configurations. The performance of the “Biomechatronic EPP” is compared to that of three other control toplogies including: a “Classic EPP” controller, an “Unconnected” controller and an “EMG” controller. Fourteen able-bodied subjects engaged in a 1-D Fitts’ Law style task, designed with the Psychophysics Toolbox, a free set of MATLAB. Performance was evaluated using several measures. Overall, the experimental results show that the performance of “Biomechatronic EPP” is comparable to “Classic EPP” and superior to “Unconnected” and “EMG”. The proposed Biomechatronic EPP control configuration is an alternative to various invasive and non-invasive sensory feedback control integration methods for prosthesis control.