New muscle reading device to aid in creating smart clothes

Russian scientists have developed a novel device that is capable of reading human muscle's electrical activity and converting it into signals, an advance that can be used to create smart clothes as well as bionic prostheses.

The device named "Myo Interface" is a project of a human-computer interface that reads the arm muscles' electric activity, recognises gestures and translates them into commands for devices, Bulat Aitbayev, student at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Moscow, Russia, was quoted as saying by Sputnik news agency.

"Myo comes from 'muscle' in Greek".

"The electrodes read the electromyographic signals of the muscles, while the interface uses special algorithms to recognise movement patterns and translate them into device commands," Aitbayev explained.

Myo Interface will be used to create exercise equipment for those in rehabilitation, smart clothes for athletes that can take electrocardiograms as well as monitor other indicators, and a system to control bionic arm prostheses.

It can also be used for remote control of smartphones and Smart House systems.

The device has a higher accuracy and lower device recognition delay rate. It also allows the use of a wider range of various recognition algorithms, Aitbayev noted.

The team is now planning to use the laboratory prototype to create a system for controlling the upper limbs' bionic prostheses and update the virtual and augmented reality movement tracking system.

--IANS

rt/mag/sed