Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive muscle disease without a cure. Due to muscle degeneration, patients will slowly lose their arm functions. When the arm muscles are too weak to lift the arms, there are still electrical signals present in these muscles. These signals can be picked up using sEMG and used to drive an exoskeleton.
In my research, an sEMG band for the upper arm muscles is designed, 3d printed, and characterized. It can possibly be used to drive an exoskeleton in the future, to give DMD patients control over their arm functions again.
Four different prototypes of an sEMG band are developed and 3d printed. The final version features six electrodes, three on the triceps and three on the biceps. It can be adjusted with a watch band and is made almost entirely with a 3d printer. It can detect signals from both muscle groups. Testing by using the sEMG envelope of the band as the input for a computer game proves the band can be used accurately and quickly as a control system.