MIO-A

The proposed project aims at developing the system for robust and accurate assessment of skeletal muscle excitations and co-excitation patterns in dynamic contractions out of non-invasively recorded surface EMG signals. Project activities are organized in the following five work packages:

The main objective of this WP is to design and implement advanced computer algorithms for suppression of negative impacts of motor unit action potential shapes (MUAPs) in recorded surface EMG signals and, thus, direct assessment of muscle excitation patterns during dynamic muscle contractions. The following partial objectives are to be met:

• - To design and implement computer algorithms for offline analysis of motor unit discharge patterns out of surface EMG recorded during dynamic movements in healthy muscles and in different pathologies (including but not limited to stroke patients).
• - To design and implement computer algorithms for online compensation of motor unit action potentials in recorded surface EMG signals and, thus, direct assessment of muscle excitation patterns during dynamic muscle contractions.
• - To validate efficiency and accuracy of online MUAP compensation algorithms on extensive set of synthetic and experimental surface EMG signals.
• - To design and prototype a compact muscle-machine interface, enabling an unobtrusive and cost effective surface EMG acquisition, easy electrode mounting and fast system setup.

This WP builds on the results of WP1 (assessment of excitation patterns) and aims at reassessment of muscle co-excitation patterns during different dynamic movements and tasks of the upper limb. The main focus is on systematic analysis of differences between the “phantom” muscle co-activations that are imposed by the limited number of mechanical DOFs in a predefined movement from the true functional muscle excitation coupling. Partial objectives of this WP are:

• - To assess the repeatability of muscle excitation and co-excitation patterns during mechanically controlled, i.e., robot assisted movements of upper extremities.
• - To decompose muscle co-excitation patterns into muscle synergies and study the long-term stability and robustness of identified muscle co-excitation models. This includes the study of the impact of muscle fatigue and movement variations on identified muscle excitation primitives.
• - To mutually compare muscle excitation primitives as assessed from muscle excitation patterns developed in this project with the ones assessed from EMG energy envelopes (the current state-of-the-art).

This WP aims at clarification of muscle control strategies in paretic limbs and their deviations from prototype excitation patterns as identified from healthy limbs.
Partial objectives of this WP are:

• - To study motor unit discharge patterns in paretic limbs and to mutually compare them to the results of motor unit identification in the less affected limb of hemiparetic patients and to healthy limbs in control subjects.
• - To design an effective procedure for online detection and recognition of muscle excitations abnormalities, such as over and under excitations during controlled dynamic movements in hemiparetic patients.
• - To provide prompt online feedback on these abnormalities during motor rehabilitations in each individual patients.

This WP builds on the results of the previous two WPs and aims at evaluating the impact of different perturbations in the form of visual and haptic feedback on muscle excitation patterns during the dynamic movements and rehabilitation.
Partial objectives of this WP are:

• - To integrate components into easy to use muscle monitoring platform consisting of acquisition hardware, personal computer and dedicated software for acquisition, automatic processing and automatic quality control of recorded surface EMG signals.
• - To integrate muscle monitoring platform with the UHD robot into a merged muscle synergy assessment/rehabilitation system.
• - To assess the impact of different visual and haptic feedback modalities on the identified muscle excitation primitives in movements of the upper limb.

The objectives of this WP include finalization of internal Intellectual property rights (IPR) agreements among project partners and the preparation of the plans for scientific exploitation of results. This includes exploitation strategies, specification of target user groups, and definition of measurable indicators of the strategic impact of the project in terms of improvements in rehabilitation and creation of market opportunities.
The partial objectives of this WP are:

• - To investigate the possibilities for scientific and socio-economic exploitation of the project outcomes.
• - To evaluate the socio-economic impact of the proposed concepts on the rehabilitation and assessment of stroke patients.
• - To protect exploitable results.
• - To disseminate scientific results.