Electromyography-Based Decoding of Dexterous, In-Hand Manipulation of Objects: Comparing Task Execution in Real World and Virtual Reality

The increased use of Virtual and Augmented Reality based systems necessitates the development of more intuitive and unobtrusive means of interfacing. Over the last years, Electromyography (EMG) based interfaces have been employed for interaction with robotic and computer applications, but no studies...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yongje Kwon, Anany Dwivedi, Andrew J. McDaid, Minas Liarokapis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9363902/
_version_ 1818351911973158912
author Yongje Kwon
Anany Dwivedi
Andrew J. McDaid
Minas Liarokapis
author_facet Yongje Kwon
Anany Dwivedi
Andrew J. McDaid
Minas Liarokapis
author_sort Yongje Kwon
collection DOAJ
description The increased use of Virtual and Augmented Reality based systems necessitates the development of more intuitive and unobtrusive means of interfacing. Over the last years, Electromyography (EMG) based interfaces have been employed for interaction with robotic and computer applications, but no studies have been carried out to investigate the continuous decoding of the effects of human motion (e.g., manipulated object behavior) in simulated and virtual environments. In this work, we compare the object motion decoding accuracy of an EMG based learning framework for two different dexterous manipulation scenarios: i) for simulated objects handled by a teleoperated model of a hand within a virtual environment and ii) for real, everyday life objects manipulated by the human hand. To do that, we utilize EMG activations from 16 muscle sites (9 on the hand and 7 on the forearm). The object motion decoding is formulated as a regression problem using the Random Forests methodology. A 5-fold cross validation procedure is used for model assessment purposes and the feature variable importance values are calculated for each model. The decoding accuracy for the real world is considerably higher than the virtual world. Each of the objects examined had a single manipulation motion that offered the highest estimation accuracy across both worlds. This study also shows that it is feasible to decode the object motions using just the myoelectric activations of the muscles of the forearm and the hand. This is particularly surprising since simulations lacked haptic feedback and the ability to account for other dynamic phenomena like friction and contact rolling.
first_indexed 2024-12-13T18:45:16Z
format Article
id doaj.art-c6d54d8ed0654c6aab21808caa66d9a9
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2169-3536
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-13T18:45:16Z
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher IEEE
record_format Article
series IEEE Access
spelling doaj.art-c6d54d8ed0654c6aab21808caa66d9a92022-12-21T23:35:05ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362021-01-019372973731010.1109/ACCESS.2021.30623649363902Electromyography-Based Decoding of Dexterous, In-Hand Manipulation of Objects: Comparing Task Execution in Real World and Virtual RealityYongje Kwon0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9285-2734Anany Dwivedi1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3262-6676Andrew J. McDaid2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3316-7344Minas Liarokapis3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6016-1477Department of Mechanical Engineering, New Dexterity Research Group, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, New Dexterity Research Group, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, New Dexterity Research Group, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandThe increased use of Virtual and Augmented Reality based systems necessitates the development of more intuitive and unobtrusive means of interfacing. Over the last years, Electromyography (EMG) based interfaces have been employed for interaction with robotic and computer applications, but no studies have been carried out to investigate the continuous decoding of the effects of human motion (e.g., manipulated object behavior) in simulated and virtual environments. In this work, we compare the object motion decoding accuracy of an EMG based learning framework for two different dexterous manipulation scenarios: i) for simulated objects handled by a teleoperated model of a hand within a virtual environment and ii) for real, everyday life objects manipulated by the human hand. To do that, we utilize EMG activations from 16 muscle sites (9 on the hand and 7 on the forearm). The object motion decoding is formulated as a regression problem using the Random Forests methodology. A 5-fold cross validation procedure is used for model assessment purposes and the feature variable importance values are calculated for each model. The decoding accuracy for the real world is considerably higher than the virtual world. Each of the objects examined had a single manipulation motion that offered the highest estimation accuracy across both worlds. This study also shows that it is feasible to decode the object motions using just the myoelectric activations of the muscles of the forearm and the hand. This is particularly surprising since simulations lacked haptic feedback and the ability to account for other dynamic phenomena like friction and contact rolling.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9363902/Electromyographyvirtual realitymuscle computer interfacesmuscle machine interfacesmachine learning
spellingShingle Yongje Kwon
Anany Dwivedi
Andrew J. McDaid
Minas Liarokapis
Electromyography-Based Decoding of Dexterous, In-Hand Manipulation of Objects: Comparing Task Execution in Real World and Virtual Reality
IEEE Access
Electromyography
virtual reality
muscle computer interfaces
muscle machine interfaces
machine learning
title Electromyography-Based Decoding of Dexterous, In-Hand Manipulation of Objects: Comparing Task Execution in Real World and Virtual Reality
title_full Electromyography-Based Decoding of Dexterous, In-Hand Manipulation of Objects: Comparing Task Execution in Real World and Virtual Reality
title_fullStr Electromyography-Based Decoding of Dexterous, In-Hand Manipulation of Objects: Comparing Task Execution in Real World and Virtual Reality
title_full_unstemmed Electromyography-Based Decoding of Dexterous, In-Hand Manipulation of Objects: Comparing Task Execution in Real World and Virtual Reality
title_short Electromyography-Based Decoding of Dexterous, In-Hand Manipulation of Objects: Comparing Task Execution in Real World and Virtual Reality
title_sort electromyography based decoding of dexterous in hand manipulation of objects comparing task execution in real world and virtual reality
topic Electromyography
virtual reality
muscle computer interfaces
muscle machine interfaces
machine learning
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9363902/
work_keys_str_mv AT yongjekwon electromyographybaseddecodingofdexterousinhandmanipulationofobjectscomparingtaskexecutioninrealworldandvirtualreality
AT ananydwivedi electromyographybaseddecodingofdexterousinhandmanipulationofobjectscomparingtaskexecutioninrealworldandvirtualreality
AT andrewjmcdaid electromyographybaseddecodingofdexterousinhandmanipulationofobjectscomparingtaskexecutioninrealworldandvirtualreality
AT minasliarokapis electromyographybaseddecodingofdexterousinhandmanipulationofobjectscomparingtaskexecutioninrealworldandvirtualreality