Moiz Ahmed Rana

Assignment 3

12443115

Moiz Ahmed Rana

Assignment 3

12443115

Project proposal for Development of a low-cost EMG based

prosthetic hand
By Moiz Ahmed Rana
MEM Biomedical Engineering Major - 12443115
Executive Summary
Prosthetics play a key role in the therapy and rehabilitation of amputees of upper and lower
limbs. Prosthesis is an artificial device which replaces an organ lost due to some disease,
trauma or accident. Prosthetic organs have been in use by the amputees for many years.
But these organs only served the purpose of mere visible replacement and did not have any
function which the original lost organ possessed. The discoveries of EMG and EEG signals
lead to the development of active prosthesis which allowed the amputees to have more
mobility and freedom. These organs were a major breakthrough in the rehabilitation and
therapy as they made the amputees more self-dependant. However, these organs have a
serious drawback which is their cost. The aim of this project is to develop a prosthetic hand
which has a significant lower development cost than those available in the current market.
This will be achieved by utilizing cost effective materials and signal processing circuitry. The
research taken out in this regard will be analysed followed by the research objectives and
the suggested methodology. This study will focus on the development of prosthetic hand but
it can also pave the way for some major developments in cost reduction of other limbs as
well, thus enabling more amputees to become active members of the society.

1. Introduction
Electromyography or EMG signals are produced due to the electrical activity in the skeletal
muscles. It was first recorded by tienne-Jules Marey in 1890. Since its discovery,
researchers have been trying to utilize EMG signals for many purposes. They have been
known to assist in the detection of certain diseases specifically, neuromuscular diseases and
muscular abnormalities. One particular use was their application in prosthesis. EMG signals
are being used as control signals in active prosthesis. They have been successfully used to
control prosthetic limbs such as arms, hands and legs. The signals are recorded from the
residual limbs and after the signal processing, they are provided to the prosthetic organ.
Feature extraction is performed during signal processing for identifying the peaks used to
control gestures such as grasp and finger movement. One particular drawback of EMG
prosthesis is its large developmental cost. These devices can cost from $15,000 to $50,000.
Majority of amputees especially those of third world countries are unable to access them due
to the high cost (Marino et al. 2015). This is a significant barrier as most of the amputees
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remain disabled for the rest of their lives. One technique which can assist in reducing the
manufacturing cost is 3D printing. 3D printing has gained a huge popularity during the recent
years. 3D printed devices and materials can cost as low as $50. It is a layered
manufacturing technique performed through computer control. Recently, it has been used for
the manufacturing of prosthetics (Zuniga et al. 2015). Another economic barrier in ECG
prosthetics is the large power consumption in motor control and signal conditioning (Rouse
et al. 2016).
This proposal will guide about how the suggested project will assist in overcoming the
highlighted issues. The literature review will analyse the research carried out previously
regarding the highlighted issues. Based on this literature review, the relevant gaps will be
identified to form a clear aim and objective of the project. This objective will elaborate and
clarify how the suggested project is unique and innovative in its nature. It will be followed by
the methodology and the approaches utilized to achieve these objectives. The experimental
setup will present the resources to be utilized during the project. This will include the
hardware and software resources. The project planning section will present the timeline of
the execution of the project. The milestones and important stages of the project work will be
pointed out along with their expected completion dates in the form of a Gantt chart.

2. Literature Review
As highlighted earlier that prosthetic organs have been in use for a long time. These organs
are included in passive prosthetics which are still in use today. These type of organs dont
rely on external energy. EMG prosthetics fall under the category of active prosthetics i.e.
they rely on external source of energy. The following literature review will analyse the
development of both types of prosthetic organs and the limitations and problems associated
with them. The suggested solutions for these problems and unaddressed issues along with
the research gaps shall also be highlighted.
Passive prosthetic organs were initially made of very bulky and heavy materials such as
metal, until propylene was suggested to make them more mobile and lighter (Srikanth, Rao
& Vidyasagar 1995). Body powered organs have been suggested with more mobility and
freedom of gestures (Arelekatti & Winter 2015). In contrast, active prosthetics have
unmatched functionalities and they can make the amputee more self-dependant. But their
high manufacturing costs make them almost inaccessible to a majority of the amputees. On
an average, a prosthetic hand can cost around $20,000 which is practically unaffordable to
the amputees of developing countries and those with poor economic situations (Marino et al.
2015). An analogue cost effective and portable circuitry for signal conditioning of EMG
signals has been proposed (Khan et al. 2012). The use of non-invasive sEMG (surface
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electromyography) has been done in the proposed technique for the objective of signal
acquisition. A digital approach for the same purpose has been also presented (Beneteau et
al. 2014). Various hand gestures have been simulated on a software on PC but without
practical implementation. An Arduino based prosthetic exoskeleton has been proposed
(Gondokusumo, Djajadi & Ughi 2015) but this system is for the amputees with weaker
muscles and it is not for the upper and lower limb amputees. A cost effective single motor
design utilizes a synergy approach for energy efficiency (Godfrey et al. 2013). All these
designs propose cost effective techniques but somehow, they compromise over the
performance of the organ and have certain functionality constraints. One of the major
constraints is the lack of gestures and grip limitations in upper limb prosthesis.
Weight is a critical characteristic of any prosthetic organ. A prosthetic organ must be light
enough for an amputee so that it can be used without any hindrance. Heavy weight can
cause injuries in the existing limbs. Also, it can cause clinical complications (Resnik et al.
2012). 3D printing has been used for the fabrication of a passive prosthetic hand (He, Xue &
Fu 2014). 3D printing can significantly reduce the weight of the prosthetic organs and also
has a drastic impact on the cost. There has been a common perception about the durability
of 3D printed organs. But over the past few years, this paradigm has begun to shift. The
introduction of consumer grade 3D printers has significantly improved the durability and
quality of 3D printed materials (Liarokapis 2014). These printers can cost around $5000.
Zuniga (et al. 2015) suggested a distance fitting procedure in which the design for 3D
printing can be downloaded and printed from anywhere in the world. Not only the use of 3D
printing for fabrication of the devices is cheap but also the maintenance cost is considerably
low. If any part or component gets damaged somehow, it can be replaced or repaired within
a quick time and within an affordable cost.
Although passive prosthetics industry has been well established and these devices are
undergoing mass production due to their affordable and reasonable prices but this is not the
case with active prosthetics. Active prosthetics are only produced at a high cost for only
those who can afford it or some charity organizations buy them for the amputees of
underdeveloped nations (Marino et al. 2015). If the price of EMG prosthesis becomes
affordable or reasonable enough, it can be also established as an industry where these
devices can be mass produced. Not only this can generate large revenue but this will also
have a great impact on the lives of amputees. Their lives will become much similar to that of
normal people. Besides the active prosthetics industry, it can develop 3D printing industry as
well. Sharma (2016) has described 3D printing as the future of manufacturing industry as it
has all the requirements to replace the traditional manufacturing processes and techniques.

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3. Research Question, Objectives and sub-goals

a. Research question
Following are the research questions.
1. How can EMG prosthetics be made cheaper?
2. Is there any effect of cost reduction on functionalities and gestures?

b. Research objectives
The main research objective is the cost comparison of 3D printed EMG prosthetic upper limb
hand with those in use currently.
The specific research objectives are as follows.
1. Manufacturing the mechanical components of the prosthetic hand through 3D
printing.
2. Maximising the features and hand gestures while keeping the cost down.

c. Sub-goals
The sub-goals formulated for this project are the objectives which will assist us in gaining the
primary goals. They are given below.
1. Literature review for the analysis of current EMG prosthesis challenges and
solutions.
2. Evaluation of EMG signal acquisition strategies. This consists of sEMG electrodes,
band pass filter and amplification techniques.
3. Embedding the filter and amplification stages on a 32-bit Arduino microcontroller.
4. Implementing motor control logic on the microcontroller.
5. Fabrication of mechanical components of the hand (fingers and palm) through 3D
6.
7.
8.
9.

printing.
Installation of vibration sensors on residual limb for haptic feedback.
Development of 5 servo motor assembly for fingers.
Installation of force sensitive resistors for grip control and monitoring.
Analysis of the performance.

4. Theoretical Content/Methodology
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a. Theoretical Content
The differential signals acquired from muscle impulses are acquired from the residual limbs
of the amputee. These signals are known as EMG signals. As these signals are low in
amplitude, so their amplification is needed. After the amplification stage, they will be passed
on to ADC (analogue to digital converter). A high-resolution ADC is required for this purpose.
The digitized output is delivered to the microcontroller over a SPI (serial peripheral
interface).
The microcontroller chosen for this project is Arduino. It will process the signals by
performing FFT (fast fourier transform) on them. The purpose of FFT is to convert the signals
from time domain to the frequency domain. The relevant frequency bin is chosen by using
FFT. A muscle impulse will be detected once the magnitude of the relevant bin exceeds a
selected threshold value.
The muscle impulses are detected in other channels as well. These are known as opcodes.
They will be processed by the control logic embedded in the microcontroller. After the
processing, they will be used to actuate the servo motors and the motors will act based upon
the sequence of opcodes received. This method is called as MIUI (multiple impulse user
interface).
The pressure sensor which provides the feedback to the microcontroller about the grip force
is mounted on the prosthetic thumb. The feedback is also provided through an ADC channel.
A haptic feedback system is also installed which is responsible for the vibration o small
motors when a successful command is received.
b. Methodology
The project will utilize the online articles for guidance and completion. Quantitative data will
be acquired from online resources. These resources shall have a primary relationship with
the present devices available.

5. Experimental Setup
The experimental setup for this project is spread over hardware and software as well. The
main components of the experimental setup are described as follows.
a. Signal acquisition
The main stages during the signal amplification are electrodes, preamplification and
digitisation. Non-invasive sEMG is performed in this project. For this purpose, biopotential
electrodes will be required. It is a kind of transducer which converts current carried by body
ions to electric current. This signal ranges from 20uV to 2000uV. So, this signal is needed to
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be amplified which can be done by an instrumentation amplifier. Examples of this type of

amplifier are AD620 and LM41. This amplified signal will be provided to the microcontroller
but it must be digitised first. For this purpose, ADC is used such as ADS1298 or ADS 1294.
b. Microcontroller
The digitised EMG signal is provided to the microcontroller through SPI. The microcontroller
which will be used for this project is Arduino. It is a 32-bit microcontroller with ARM core.
Suitable power supply will be designed for the functioning of the microcontroller. The
microcontroller will be responsible for signal processing and motor actuation. It will also
receive feedback from sensors. The microcontroller will be connected to a PC first for its
programming. The common language which is used for Arduino programming is C or C++.
c. Motors
Servo motors will be implemented in this project. They are chosen because of their low price
and simple design. Their drive shafts will be connected to a potentiometer for feedback and
the displacement angles will be controlled by PWM (pulse width modulation). Copper wires
can be used for the finger movement. The will be attached to the motor and all along the
finger.
d. Force sensor
Force sensor will be required for controlling the grip. The sensor which can be used for this
project is FSR (force sensing resistor). It converts the mechanical input to electrical output.
This output is provided as a feedback to the microcontroller for grip controlling. The FSR has
the benefits of being inexpensive, readily available and robust nature. This sensor will be
installed at the tip of thumb.
e. Mechanical components
To keep the cost down, the mechanical components of the hand such as the fingers and the
complete palm assembly will be fabricated by 3D printing. They can be printed by FDM
(fused deposition modelling) 3D printer. It is the most widely available technology in
consumer grade printers. Auto Desk Inventor will be used for the 3D design on PC. The
individual designs will be made on the PC and then printed through the 3D printer.

6. Results, Outcomes and Relevance

The testing and evaluation of mechanical and electrical components will be required. All the
mechanical components are required to undergo thorough testing.
The electrodes must be installed on the proper points on the residual limbs of the amputee.
The amplification stage will require to give the required output. Without this output, the
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response can be unpredictable. It must be assured that the required gain is being added to
the acquired signal. In the same way, the force sensor shall provide the feedback signals.
These sensors must be evaluated and tested prior installation and the quantitative voltage
and current values must be checked.
Before connecting the EMG electrodes to residual limbs, the hand must be tested by
connecting push buttons with it. Vibration must be evaluated on quantitative values. The
objective of the project is to maintain the quality of the prosthetic hand without affecting the
price. So, it must be kept in mind that the quality of the 3D printed material is not degraded.

7. Project planning and Gantt chart

This section will describe the project schedule. The time required for every stage will be
described in it. The project management has been performed in such a way that the project
gets completed in the required time. The number of study weeks have been kept in view and
the tasks have been allotted per them. The project will span over a period of 12 weeks which
is the number of weeks during the study session. The project will start on 20 March 2017
and end on 11 June 2017. Following are the main phases.
a. Initiation
During the initial phase of the project, the relevant literature will be reviewed and the
required data will be gathered. The related currently available technology will be analyses
along with their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Their alternatives will also
be considered.
b. Planning
After the initiation stage, the required components will be selected during the planning stage.
The specific models required for force sensors, instrumentation amplifiers and other
components will be decided during this stage. The data required such as the threshold
values will be determined along with the development of algorithm for microcontroller
programming.
c. Execution
The project execution will start after the planning. The hardware manufacturing and the
electrical component fabrication will take place during this stage. At the end of this stage, the
project will be ready for testing.
d. Analysis

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During the analysis stage, the project will be tested for errors. In the case of any errors or
flaws, troubleshooting will be performed for the solution of the problems. Future scope may
also be defined during this phase.

20-Mar

9-Apr

29-Apr

19-May

8-Jun

28-Jun

Scope defining
Lierature study
Technology evaluation
EMG acquistion
Amplifier development
Microcontroller programming
Feedback sensor development
3D printing
Final assembly
Testing
Evaluation

Project Gantt Chart

8. Conclusion
In this project proposal, a low-cost 3D printed EMG prosthetic hand has been proposed. This
project has been proposed by keeping in view the current amputee needs. The current
available technology in the field of EMG prosthetics is not available to everyone. So, there is
a strong market requirement for a cheap prosthetic hand which has all the abilities of the
current available technologies. This project can open development gateways for other
prosthetic technologies as well such as EEG and robotic prosthetics. The project uses 3D
printing technology for the fabrication of mechanical components which can revolutionise
todays manufacturing techniques and processes.

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References
Arelekatti, V. and Winter, A. (2015). Design of a fully passive prosthetic knee mechanism for
transfemoral amputees in India. 2015 IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation
Robotics (ICORR).pp.350-356
Beneteau, A., Di Caterina, G., Petropoulakis, L. and Soraghan, J. (2014). Low-cost wireless
surface EMG sensor using the MSP430 microcontroller. 2014 6th European Embedded
Design in Education and Research Conference (EDERC).pp. 264-268
Godfrey, S., Ajoudani, A., Catalano, M., Grioli, G. and Bicchi, A. (2013). A synergy-driven
approach to a myoelectric hand. 2013 IEEE 13th International Conference on Rehabilitation
Robotics (ICORR).
Gondokusumo, M., Djajadi, A. and Ughi, F. (2015). Electromyography microcontroller leg
brace processing software. 2015 4th International Conference on Instrumentation,
Communications, Information Technology, and Biomedical Engineering (ICICI-BME).
He, Y., Xue, G. and Fu, J. (2014). Fabrication of low cost soft tissue prostheses with the
desktop 3D printer. Sci. Rep., 4, p.6973.
Khan, M., Wajdan, A., Khan, M., Ali, H., Iqbal, J., Shahbaz, U. and Rashid, N. (2012). Design
of low cost and portable EMG circuitry for use in active prosthesis applications. 2012
International Conference of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.pp.204-207
Liarokapis, M., Zisimatos, A., Bousiou, M. and Kyriakopoulos, K. (2014). Open-source, lowcost, compliant, modular, underactuated fingers: Towards affordable prostheses for partial
hand amputations. 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in
Medicine and Biology Society.pp.2541-2544
Marino, M., Pattni, S., Greenberg, M., Miller, A., Hocker, E., Ritter, S. and Mehta, K. (2015).
Access to prosthetic devices in developing countries: Pathways and challenges. 2015 IEEE
Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC).pp.45-52
Phillips, B., Zingalis, G., Ritter, S. and Mehta, K. (2015). A review of current upper-limb
prostheses for resource constrained settings. 2015 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology
Conference (GHTC).pp.52-59

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Resnik, L., Meucci, M., Lieberman-Klinger, S., Fantini, C., Kelty, D., Disla, R. and Sasson, N.
(2012). Advanced Upper Limb Prosthetic Devices: Implications for Upper Limb Prosthetic
Rehabilitation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 93(4), pp.710-717.
Sharma, B. (2016). Betting big on 3D printing. Engineering & Technology, 11(1), pp.44-47.

Srikanth, P., Srinivas Rao, M. and Vidyasagar, J. (1995). Polypropylene Orthotics in

Rehabilitation of Post Polio Residual Paralysis

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