Abstract
Massive efforts to build walking aid platforms for the disabled have been made in line with the needs of the aging society. One of the core technologies that make up these platforms is a realization of the skin-like electronic patch, which is capable of sensing electromyogram (EMG) and delivering feedback information to the soft, lightweight, and wearable exosuits, while maintaining high signal-to-noise ratio reliably in the long term. The main limitations of the conventional EMG sensing platforms include the need to apply foam tape or conductive gel on the surface of the device for adhesion and signal acquisition, and also the bulky size and weight of conventional measuring instruments for EMG, limiting practical use in daily life. Herein, we developed an epidermal EMG electrode integrated with a wireless measuring system. Such the stretchable platform was realized by transfer-printing of the as-prepared EMG electrodes on a SiO2 wafer to a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer substrate. The epidermal EMG patch has skin-like properties owing to its unique mechanical characteristics: i) location on a neutral mechanical plane that enables high flexibility, ii) wavy design that allows for high stretchability. We demonstrated wireless EMG monitoring using our skin-attachable and stretchable EMG patch sensor integrated with the miniaturized wireless system modules.
Highlights
With a constantly aging society, there is a rising demand for new technologies that can manage and monitor health conditions
Here,level we described a stretchable with signal acquisition near a commercial electrodes were fabricated on SiO
Applying the developed skin-attachable and stretchable EMG patch sensor to human body, we demonstrated that the signal acquisition performance for vital sign corresponds to that of the commercial EMG sensor
Summary
With a constantly aging society, there is a rising demand for new technologies that can manage and monitor health conditions. Aging phenomena like muscle weakness and decreased motor skills, or physical disorders such as stroke-induced hemiparalysis are very common in modern-day adults, and are increasingly occurring as the average life span is extended. These diseases cause chronic discomfort in daily behavior and walking, and they pose a potential risk of causing unexpected situations such as falling while in motion or other accidents in daily life. There is a growing need to develop walking-assisting technologies for the Electronics 2020, 9, 269; doi:10.3390/electronics9020269 www.mdpi.com/journal/electronics [1–20].
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