Abstract
Coupling myoelectric and mechanical signals during voluntary muscle contraction is paramount in human–machine interactions. Spatiotemporal differences in the two signals intrinsically arise from the muscular excitation–contraction process; however, current methods fail to deliver local electromechanical coupling of the process. Here we present the locally coupled electromechanical interface based on a quadra-layered ionotronic hybrid (named as CoupOn) that mimics the transmembrane cytoadhesion architecture. CoupOn simultaneously monitors mechanical strains with a gauge factor of ~34 and surface electromyogram with a signal-to-noise ratio of 32.2 dB. The resolved excitation–contraction signatures of forearm flexor muscles can recognize flexions of different fingers, hand grips of varying strength, and nervous and metabolic muscle fatigue. The orthogonal correlation of hand grip strength with speed is further exploited to manipulate robotic hands for recapitulating corresponding gesture dynamics. It can be envisioned that such locally coupled electromechanical interfaces would endow cyber–human interactions with unprecedented robustness and dexterity.
Highlights
Coupling myoelectric and mechanical signals during voluntary muscle contraction is paramount in human–machine interactions
Local identification of the muscular excitation–contraction signatures is on demand, comprising of coupled myoelectric signals and mechanical responses
Given the interface with the electronic/ ionic coupling that is highly sensitive to both electrophysiological and mechanical signals, CoupOn is capable of identifying the excitation–contraction signatures of forearm muscles by locally coupling the surface electromyogram (sEMG) signal and skin strain
Summary
Coupling myoelectric and mechanical signals during voluntary muscle contraction is paramount in human–machine interactions. Such mechanical links remain robust under cyclic stretch, as their cohesion strength is enhanced with specific ligand binding[34] Inspired by such mechanically robust cytoadhesion, we develop a quadra-layered ionotronic hybrid integrating the ionic hydrogel and strain-sensitive double metallic nanofilm onto the elastomer with “adhesion plaques” and tough bonding at the interface. Given the interface with the electronic/ ionic coupling that is highly sensitive to both electrophysiological and mechanical signals, CoupOn is capable of identifying the excitation–contraction signatures of forearm muscles by locally coupling the sEMG signal and skin strain. The extracted signatures can be well correlated with the dynamics (i.e., amplitude, strength, and speed) of hand grip gestures and finger flexions These merits make such locally coupled electromechanical interfaces promising for next-generation multifunctional cyber–human interfaces
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