Performance of electromyography recorded using textile electrodes in classifying arm movements

Electromyography (EMG) signals are commonly recorded using the Ag/AgCl gel electrodes in myoelectric prosthetic control. While a gelled electrode may provide high-quality EMG recordings, it is inconvenient in clinical application of a myoelectric prosthesis. A novel type of signal sensors-textile electrodes should be ideal in control of myoelectric prostheses. However, it is unknown whether the performance of textile electrodes is comparable to commonly used electrodes in classifying arm movements. In this study, the custom-made bipolar textile electrodes were fabricated using copper-based nickel-plated conductive fabric and were used to record EMG signals. The performance of EMG signals recorded with textile electrodes in identifying nine arm and hand movements were investigated. Our pilot results showed that the average classification accuracy across six able-bodied subjects was 94.05% when using textile electrodes and 94.26% when using conventional electrodes, with no significant difference between the two types of electrodes (p=0.81). The pilot results suggest that the textile electrodes could achieve similar performance in classifying arm movements in control of myoelectric prostheses as the gelled metal electrodes.