This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will explore whether electromyographic (EMG) signals from a vestigial neuromuscular system can serve as a virtual ?controller? for those with spinal cord injuries. Repurposing these unused muscles could open a new channel of innate and intuitive control over a computer cursor, nearby electronics, or a motorized wheelchair. This project will recruit several subjects for a pilot study evaluating the ability to control a computer interface via EMG signals recorded by surface electrodes placed over the muscles. This project will culminate in the development of a headset capable of capturing, processing and wirelessly transmitting the intended EMG signals to any target device.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be greatest in the assistive technology space. Limitations of mobility and interpersonal interaction are primary factors determining functional independence and quality of life in people with physical disabilities, yet existing assistive devices remain cumbersome and usurp the individual?s few remaining still-functioning motor systems. This innovation in assistive technology could bring a new computer interface device to those with even the most severe spinal cord injuries and many of the most severe brain lesions, and has the potential to change how anyone interfaces with their environment. Users would, in essence, develop a new mode of command output that can be wirelessly applied to any target device.
Reach Bionics is developing a new controller technology that repurposes signals from the muscles around the ears to provide the brain a new mode of command output that can be wirelessly applied to any target device, from a computer cursor to an electric wheelchair. This vestigial system remains intact in even the highest spinal cord injuries, and harnessing it could transform the way people, both healthy and disabled, can interact with their environment. Over the course of the NSF Phase 1/1B SBIR project titled "Assistive Control System Harnessing Vestigial Neuromuscular Biosignals", Reach Bionics has explored the human potential for using these vestigial muscles as a source of control signals for the disabled, and more generally, as a novel form of human output for human-computer interaction. Furthermore, this project aimed to develop a prototype headset and signal processing methods necessary to capture, process and usefully transmit these bio-signals to target devices. Our work with subjects has demonstrated that most people, including those unaccustomed to using these muscles, can be taught to generate intentional contractions with enough control to play basic video games. Using our prototype headset, a novice user successfully piloted a wheelchair 25 times through a naturalistically-derived course with less than one error per 130-foot lap. The user found the control useable and intuitive. The results of this project support the significant potential for this system as an assistive device controller, and lay the groundwork for further development of this platform technology.
