EMG-Analysis for Intelligent Robotic based Rehabilitation

Professor Thomas Schrader
University of Applied Sciences Brandenburg
Germany
E-mail: thomas.schrader@computer.org

Abstract: The establishment of wireless sensor network (WSN) technology in physiotherapy and rehabilitation is a clue for improvement of the thera- peutic process, quality assessment and development of supporting tech- nologies such as robotics. Especially for complex therapeutic interventions such as sensorimotor training, a continuous monitoring during the ther- apy as well as for all sessions would be quite useful. For the usage of robotic support in rehabilitation various input informa- tion about the status of patient and his/her activity status of various muscles have to be detected and evaluated. The critical point for robotic intervention is the response time. Under physiotherapeutic and rehabilita- tion conditions, the robotic device should be able to react differently and in various patterns. A complex analysis procedure of input signals such as EMG is essential to ensure an effective response of the robot. However sensor nodes in a wireless (body) area network have limited resources for calculating and storage processes. A stepwise procedure with distributed analysis tasks is proposed. Electromyogram (EMG) measurements of eight muscles were collected and evaluated in an experimental setting of a sensorimotor training using different types of balance boards. Fast and easy methods for detection of activity and rest states based on time domain analysis using low pass IIR filter und dynamic threshold adaption. These procedures can be done on the sensor nodes themselves or special calculation nodes in the network. More advanced methods in frequency domain or analysis of dynamical system behavior request much more system power in calculation as well as storage. These tasks could be done on the level of mobile devices such as mobile phones or tablet computer. A broad range of resources can be provided by cloud/internet. Such level based organization of analysis and system control can be com- pared with biological systems such as human nervous system.