Simulator of a Myoelectrically Controlled Prosthetic Hand with Graphical Display of Upper Limb and Hand Posture

Three types of prosthetic hand are currently available: cosmetic, body-powered, and myoelectric (Laschi et al., 2000). Cosmetic prostheses are passive, and designed to look like the natural hand, with solely an aesthetic purpose. Body-powered prostheses are pow‐ ered and controlled by body movements, generally of the shoulder or of the back. Myoelectric hands are electrically powered and controlled by electromyographic (EMG) signals; i.e., small electric potentials produced by contracting muscles. Myoelectric hands are typically controlled in switched or simple proportional mode, according to the amplitude of the EMG signals (Stein and Walley, 1983; Nader, 1990; Sears and Shaper‐ man, 1991; Bergman et al., 1992; Kyberd and Chappell, 1994). The switched control is the simplest one, as it consists of only two states: on or off. Although much progress has been made in myoelectric hands, their motor functions are still not comparable with those of a natural hand, partly because they have been designed to provide only the most basic functions of a natural hand, such as grasping and holding.

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