Learning human reach-to-grasp strategies: Towards EMG-based control of robotic arm-hand systems

Reaching and grasping of objects in an everyday-life environment seems so simple for humans, though so complicated from an engineering point of view. Humans use a variety of strategies for reaching and grasping anything from the simplest to the most complicated objects, achieving high dexterity and efficiency. This seemingly simple process of reach-to-grasp relies on the complex coordination of the musculoskeletal system of the upper limbs. In this paper, we study the muscular co-activation patterns during a variety of reach-to-grasp motions, and we introduce a learning scheme that can discriminate between different strategies. This scheme can then classify reach-to-grasp strategies based on the muscular co-activations. We consider the arm and hand as a whole system, therefore we use surface ElectroMyoGraphic (sEMG) recordings from muscles of both the upper arm and the forearm. The proposed scheme is tested in extensive paradigms proving its efficiency, while it can be used as a switching mechanism for task-specific motion and force estimation models, improving EMG-based control of robotic arm-hand systems.