DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN ELECTROMYOGRAPHY SENSOR ACTUATED PROSTHETIC ARM

Abstract

Replacement of missing arms by an active prosthetic arm can improve the quality of life of an amputee. We demonstrate the development of a prosthetic arm by analyzing the electromyography (EMG) signals received from the EMG sensor connected to the muscles of a cleft arm to support disabled people. The prosthetic arm was designed using SolidWorks simulator. After convincing simulation results, we developed the prosthetic arm using 3D printing technology. The robust prosthetic arm was made of polymer for light weight and long durability. We analyzed the EMG signals of different muscles such as forearm and bicep received from several people of different gender and age group. Based on the EMG data, we designed the control unit of the prosthetic arm. Furthermore, we investigated the performance of the EMG sensor actuated prosthetic arm. We believe that, the proposed EMG sensor based prosthetic arm can perform almost like a normal arm.