Empowering prosthetic limbs with the ability to respond to muscle contractions can significantly improve their functionality. To support individuals with partial arm or hand amputations, [TURFPTAx] has designed a sensor capable of detecting forearm muscle contractions.
This project is a part of the Open Prosthetics initiative, which focuses on providing open-source designs for a variety of prosthetic devices. This sensor mimics the functionality of common commercial prosthetic designs using a straightforward electromechanical system.
The sensor operation relies on the movement of magnets attached to twelve pistons that respond to muscle contractions beneath the skin. These pistons are designed to flex and extend with the muscle movements, and the motion of the magnets is detected by hall effect sensors. While this system may be bulkier compared to other solutions, it offers a clear output and the ability to detect the movements of multiple muscle groups. The sensor data is collected by an ESP32 microcontroller, which wirelessly transmits the information to a computer for analysis. [TURFPTAx] employs the PyGame library to visualize and plot the sensor data effectively.
[TURFPTAx] highlights that the sensor output could be seamlessly integrated into a machine learning system for further advancements.
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