Many amputees and paralyzed are among us who are not able to compete with others
only because they are held back by the fact that some part of their body is not fully
functional. WHO estimates that there are 40 million amputees throughout the world, 30
percent of which are upper limb amputees. While there is no commercially available
solution for the paralyzed, the prosthetic limbs available for the amputees in the market
are too expensive and only available in developed countries. The success of this project
lies in providing robust gesture classification using myoelectric signals acquired using
surface electrodes which will then be used to drive a complete low cost human arm
having 4 DOF. The gesture classification will also be used for other applications such as
driving a wheel chair for amputees and using a mounted robotic arm on the wheel chair
for performing basic tasks. This project also aims to explore the control of the limb for
paralyzed using externally applied myoelectric signals by TENS Pads. Cost is one of the
most important aspects of this project, and the target is to create a product that is
affordable for most amputees and paralyzed.