Background

An active prosthesis such as myoelectric prosthesis can improve the quality of life of an amputee enormously. Upper-limb neurorehabilitation is essential for amputees to be able to use electromyography (EMG) driven prosthesis. Rehabilitation includes targeted exercise to regain the mind-muscle connection to be prepared for optimally controlling the prosthesis. Typically these exercises are based on repetition and they are therefore not very motivating.

Objectives

The main goal of the project was to provide a robust and interactive biofeedback system for amputees and therapists. Additional goals were to make the system easy to use, to allow patients to operate it from home, and increase their workout motivation with game-based rehabilitation.

The overall architecture of the system is visualized here.

The device is used to measure muscle activity that is translated into control inputs in the Android based game. At the end of each gaming session, the collected data is then sent to the web portal for the patient and their therapist to review.

Key features of EMGame:

• EMGame is a complete rehabilitation service prototype including a measurement device, a mobile app, and a web portal

• Easy to use and robust

• Portable allowing home use 

• Therapists can monitor the progress of their patients remotely 

EMGame was designed to be easily extendable and the following features were already planned to be further developed in order to increase training effectiveness and patient motivation:

• Support for multiple electrodes which is needed for training muscle isolation and co-contraction 

• Multiple control strategies which allows more diverse training

• More engaging game: varying levels, achievement system, nicer graphics and enhanced sound effects

The following video shows how the EMGame rehabilitation system is used.

EMGame_introductory video.mp4