Control of myoelectric prosthetic hand with a novel proximity-tactile sensor

Currently, prosthetic hands can only achieve several prespecified and discrete hand motion patterns from popular myoelectric control schemes using electromyography (EMG) signals. To achieve continuous and stable grasping within the discrete motion pattern, this paper proposes a control strategy using a customized, flexible capacitance-based proximity-tactile sensor. This sensor is integrated at the fingertip and measures the distance and force before and after contact with an object. During the pre-grasping phase, each fingertip’s position is controlled based on the distance between the fingertip and the object to make all fingertips synchronously approach the object at the same distance. Once contact is established, the sensor turns to output the tactile information, by which the contact force of each fingertip is finely controlled. Finally, the method is introduced into the human-machine interaction control for a myoelectric prosthetic hand. The experimental results demonstrate that continuous and stable grasping could be achieved by the proposed control method within the subject’s discrete EMG motion mode. The subject also obtained tactile feedback through the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation after contact.