Fuzzy Logic Expert System for Automatic Tuning of Myoelectric Prostheses

The paper presents a software package for automatic tuning of control parameters of myoelectric prosthesis. The prosthesis system is the INAIL artificial arm controlled by a microprocessor using myoelectric signals acquired from skin-surface electrodes placed on the patient muscle stump. Usually, qualified staff is necessary for control parameters set-up and subsequent recurrent adjustments, and therefore patients are forced to come back frequently at prosthesis factory laboratories. The proposed software interacts with unskilled patients and automatically set up the control parameters of the prosthesis using qualified staff knowledge stored in a Fuzzy Logic Expert System (FLES). In this paper the software package is presented and some preliminary results from its application are discussed.