Vibration Induced Proprioceptive Modulation in Surface-EMG Based Control of a Robotic Arm

Sense of body movement and posture known as proprioception helps us move and complete motor tasks without heavily relying on visual feedback. Vibration induced proprioceptive modulation has been studied in past and analogues illusions based on vibration of specific muscle groups have been reported. The aim of this study was to establish reproduction of vibration induced proprioceptive modulation in a consistent manner and utilize that as feedback to improve robotic arm control. A system of vibration motors is designed to validate the proprioceptive modulation for single degree of freedom, forearm flexion and extension. To study the efficacy of proprioceptive feedback for development of a tele-operation system, a robotic arm control system mimicking the elbow joint movement using surface EMG is developed. The results of this study conveyed that it is possible to develop vibration systems that could be used for inducing illusion of elbow flexion and extension consistently. It was also found that the proprioceptive feedback helped the user develop an association with robotic arm without any visual feedback which could help develop more immersive and easier to use systems.