Deep learning with convolutional neural networks: a resource for the control of robotic prosthetic hands via electromyography

• Main Authors: Manfredo Atzori, Matteo Cognolato, Henning Müller
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-09-01
• Series: Frontiers in Neurorobotics
• Subjects: Electromyography; machine learning; prosthetics; deep learning; rehabilitation robotics; Convolutional Neural Networks
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbot.2016.00009/full

Motivation: Natural control methods based on surface electromyography and pattern recognition are promising for hand prosthetics. However, the control robustness offered by scientific research is still not sufficient for many real life applications and commercial prostheses are in the best case capable to offer natural control for only a few movements. Objective: In recent years deep learning revolutionized several fields of machine learning, including computer vision and speech recognition. Our objective is to test its capabilities for the natural control of robotic hands via surface electromyography by providing a baseline on a large number of intact and amputated subjects. Methods: We tested convolutional networks for the classification of an average of 50 hand movements in 67 intact subjects and 11 hand amputated subjects. The simple architecture of the neural network allowed to make several tests in order to evaluate the effect of pre-processing, layer architecture, data augmentation and optimization. The classification results are compared with a set of classical classification methods applied on the same datasets.Results: The classification accuracy obtained with convolutional neural networks using the proposed architecture is higher than the average results obtained with the classical classification methods but lower than the results obtained with the best reference methods in our tests. Significance: The results show that convolutional neural networks with a very simple architecture can produce accuracy comparable to the average classical classification methods. They show that several factors (including pre-processing, the architecture of the net and the optimization parameters) can be fundamental for the analysis of surface electromyography data. Finally, the results suggest that deeper and more complex networks may increase dexterous control robustness, thus contributing to bridge the gap between the market and scientific research. Availability of more training data may also have an impact on the result quality.