Enable-i: EMG-Driven Prosthetics Control

Overview

Enable-i is an intramuscular EMG recording system designed to enable high-resolution neural signal acquisition for intuitive and reliable control of upper-limb prosthetic devices. By recording directly from individual motor units, the system provides a richer command signal than surface EMG, enabling more dexterous and natural prosthetic control.

Motivation

Commercially available upper-limb prostheses are primarily controlled via surface EMG, which is limited by cross-talk, fatigue, and a small number of controllable degrees of freedom. Intramuscular recording bypasses these limitations, offering access to fine motor unit activity and opening the door to multi-grasp, proportional control of advanced prosthetic hands.

Approach

• Development of chronic intramuscular electrode arrays with minimal tissue damage.
• Low-noise analog front-end electronics for high-fidelity EMG acquisition.
• Motor unit decomposition algorithms for real-time prosthetic command extraction.
• Human trials with upper-limb amputees to validate control accuracy and usability.

Status

System design and benchtop validation phase.