A Wearable Sensor Fusion Armband for Simple Motion Control and Selection James Cannan (
[email protected]) & Huosheng Hu (
[email protected] ) University of Essex Abstract This poster presents the GE-Fusion Band, a wearable prototype armband that incorporates Gyro and EMG sensor fusion for interfacing with technology. The armband enables any user with some level of yaw and pitch arm movement, and arm muscle voluntary contraction, to potentially control an electrical device like a computer, robotic arm, or mobile phone. Simple Gyro data calculates pitch and yaw, while EMG threshold based techniques were used for a virtual enter button. Only light weight signal processing was required to achieve acceptable results, reducing the required processing time on the microcontroller and receiving device, thereby allowing the GE-Fusion Band to be interfaced with almost any device. The device aims to make interaction more intuitive for disabled users while providing an alternative interface for nondisabled users.
By combining sensors, control can be improved, such as combining Accelerometer and Gyro for Motion Analysis [1], or combining Accelerometer and EMG sensors for sign language recognition [2] or even Virtual Game Control [3].
GE-Fusion Band The GE-Fusion Band (Figure 2) aims to combine both Gyro and EMG sensors to enhance user interactions, which consists of: • 8Mhz Arduino Pro Mini, • 2 sensors: A dual channel EMG, and 3axis Gyro sensors • 3 EMG electrodes. Weight: 20g, Size: 60mm*35mm*20mm (plus 3 EMG electrodes)
The Problem Amputees are forced to use interfaces which are not specifically designed for them. This commonly involves using a keyboard and mouse with or without their prostheses.
Figure 2
Why is this a problem? It severely effects the user interaction, as most prosthesis can be big, bulky and tiring to continually use.
Figure 3
Applications • Control of a mobile phone • Electronic wheel chair interface • control of a computer mouse • 3d object manipulation
Solution An adaptable light weight and intuitive interface would be ideally suited for amputees, something that can be simply slipped on and used, without any major reconfigurations.
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Virtual reality Robot control Robotic arm control Virtual witting Simple TV remote Rehabilitation
Background For most people it is incredibly easy to move their arms, even partial amputees still have this ability. This natural ability can be exploited to give a human operator an easy to use interface to control multiple devices.
Figure 1
A human operator moves most naturally in the pitch and yaw planes (Figure 1). These movements can be monitored from motion devices such as gyros and accelerometer’s, which measure rate of rotation and acceleration respectively. However these devices are limited in their ability to perform a selection i.e. act as a virtual enter button. EMG, which stands for Electromyography, measures a very small electrically potential (in mV) produced during muscle activation. It would be ideally suited to act as a virtual enter button, as a simple clench of the fist, or movement of a finger could be utilized as input. This creates an intuitive and simple activation process. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012
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Conclusion & Future Work The GE-Fusion Band demonstrated its potential as a wearable interface for both disabled and non disabled individuals. The prototype still needs improvements in EMG false positives, and Gyro drift, but is still usable after calibration. Experiments will need to confirm the reliability and usability in different applications.
Acknowledgments & References This research is funded by EPSRC Studentship EP/P504910/1. 1 Rene Winkler Johannes Schumm Martin Kusserow Holger Harms, Oliver Amft and Gerhard Troester. Ethos: Miniature orientation sensor for wearable human motion analysis. 2010. 2
Jianxun Tian Xu Zhang Kongqiao Wang Jihai Yang Yun Li, Xiang Chen. Automatic recognition of sign language subwords based on portable accelerometer and emg sensors. 2010.
3 Wang Wen-hui Yang Ji-hai Vuokko Lantz Wang Kong-qiao Zhang Xu, Chen Xiang. Hand gesture recognition and virtual game control based on 3d accelerometer and emg sensors. 2009.
