3D Printed Prosthetic Arm with EMG Controls

Prosthetic technology has been advancing in the scientific community to the point where amputees are able to control the prosthetic in various ways. For example, one such method is to voltage signals from muscle contractions to trigger motors in the prosthetic to move the fingers of the hand. This project explores the practicality of this technique by building a 3D printed prosthetic arm installed with five individual servo motors. These motors are housed within the forearm, and are connected to an arduino, a microcontroller, that receives information from EMGs, or electromyography that are placed on various muscles on the subject’s body. As the subject flexes specific muscles, The EMG will record the electrical potential that the muscle is putting out. This signal then travels to the arduino which will then determine if the signal is of the correct value for a predetermined action. If it is then a signal is sent to the motors which in turn causes the hand to move, to grab, or pinch through predetermined actions which allow the patient to interact with various objects in their environment