Development of EMG controlled mouse cursor

The amputee cannot operate a mouse freely when they use a personal computer. Also there are few old people who think it easy to use computers. We have developed a new type of man-machine interface using the electromyogram (EMG). The two advantages of using the EMG are the following: The first is that we can control EMG freely. The second is that, what is necessary is just to put electrodes on the skin surface. In this study, the operation of a mouse cursor is reproduced (up, down, left, right, right click, left click). We used EMG for the input and the output of the system for mouse cursor operation. Six EMG signals are converted to the mouse cursor movement by the electric circuit or computer software. The usability of this system is conformed by Fitts´s law.