The next Doctoral Research Seminar is titled "Towards embodied myoelectric prostheses: exploring the impact of sEMG interfaces" by Theophil Spiegeler Castañeda - Professorship for Healthcare and Rehabilitation Robotics - TUM

Surface electromyography (sEMG) interfaces have emerged as a promising technology for enhancing upper-limb prosthetic control. However, little is known about the impact of these interfaces on users’ experience regarding embodiment and their interaction with functional changes.
To investigate this aspect, a comparison is conducted among sEMG interfaces with different number of sensors (4 and 16 channels) as well as a time delay. We used a regression algorithm to simultaneously control hand closing/opening and forearm pronation/supination in an immersive virtual reality environment. The experimental evaluation includes 24 able-bodied participants. We assess functionality with the Target Achievement Control test, and the sense of embodiment with an adapted version of the Propioceptive Drift test together with a standard survey.
Results proved a higher perceived sense of embodiment when participants used sEMG interfaces employing an increased number of sensors. Furthermore, a significant functional improvement is observed in the condition with higher number of sEMG sensors compared to the condition with fewer sensors. In contrast, our results did not reveal significant differences on embodiment associated with the implemented time delay.
Our work indicates that the use of high-density sEMG interfaces could favor both functional and embodiment outcomes. This prompts discussion regarding the potential relationship between these two aspects present in bionic integration.

June 5th, 2023, 10:30 am - 11:30 am in room 2026, Karlstr. 45.