Supervisory system of myoelectric prostheses

The paper is concerned with the use of a supervisory expert system to parameter adjustment of myoelectric prostheses. The prosthesis system is an artificial arm produced by INAIL in Vigorso (Bologna, Italy), which is equipped with an on-board actuation system. The expert system, which is developed using a fuzzy logic algorithm, guides the patients through an interactive session aiming to test the prosthesis functionality and, when necessary, to self-adjust the parameters. The prosthesis control system is connected through an RS232 communication link to a personal computer running the expert system. A teleconference service is included in the package, which permits the technicians to monitor remotely the tuning session. The paper presents the overall characteristics of the auto-tuning system, detailing particularly the fuzzy logic algorithm which is the core of the expert system. Some preliminary experimental results on the application of the system to patients are reported as well