Universal, Open Source, Myoelectric Interface for Assistive Devices

Paper in proceeding, 2018

We present an integrated, open-source platform for the control of assistive vehicles. The system is vehicle-agnostic and can be controlled using a myoelectric interface to translate muscle contractions into vehicular commands. A modular shared-control system was used to enhance safety and ease of use, and three collision avoidance systems were included and verified in both an included test platform and on a quadcopter operating in a simulated environment. Seven subjects performed the experiments and rated the user experience of the system under each of the provided collision avoidance systems with positive results. Qualitative tests with the quadcopter validated the proposed system and shared-control techniques. This open-source platform for shared control between humans and machines integrates decoding of motor volition with control engineering to expedite further investigation into the operation of mobile robots.