Degree-wise control of an humanoid manipulator based on biceps brachii muscle activity

Human arm performs dextrous movements through the voluntary contraction of muscles. To produce a given body movement, a group of muscles are usually acting in a synergic fashion. It is possible that information about a movement could also be extracted from an individual muscle within a synergic group. Physiologically, the large biceps brachii (BB) muscle is involved in forearm flexion and hand supination and also contributes to raising the arm forward and upward. For the BB, synergy can originate from its different compartments and their contribution identified with a decomposition algorithm applied on signals recorded over its surface. Here, the synergy extracted from 3 signals collected over the BB were used to control one degree of freedom (DoF) of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints of a dextrous humanoid arm manipulator. Synergy information could thus be useful for helping an upper-limb amputee person to control a modern myoelectric prosthesis.