The Myo band is a device capable of reading myoelectric impulses made from the body and converting them into controls for various devices. The device fits on the upper arm and communicates with other devices via Bluetooth. Simply put, it converts hand gestures into actions. It was developed by Thalamic Labs., a Canadian electronics company, and initially released in 2014.

The Myo band addresses a variety of problems large and small in size. Perhaps one of the largest problems that the Myo band has been addressing is the field of prosthetics, which are often expensive due to complicated sensor arrays. When combined with the Applied Physics Lab’s Modular Prosthetic Limb, the Myo band allows for an amputees’ simple muscular contractions to give greater ease of access to prosthetic users.

This is important because we have a large population of amputees or people who were born without limbs, making up roughly 1 percent of the world population. More specifically, it allows for the use of non invasive sensors, which can cause medical complications for patients. The new insight for the project came from a desire to create a non invasive prosthetic, as invasive prosthetics can cause a variety of medical issues, including infection, degeneration, nerve damage, and bone fracture. The combination of the Myo band and the robotic arm has worked quite well. Johnny Matheny, a left arm amputee, described his satisfaction with his new prosthetic setup,

“Before, the only way I could put the prosthetic on was by this harness with suction and straps; but now, with osseointegration, the implant does away with all that. It’s all natural now. Nothing is holding me down. Before, I had limited range; I couldn’t reach over my head and behind my back. Now boom, that limitation is gone.”

This new dual-faceted prosthetic is a successful integration between biology, mechanics, and computation. This is a device where in which the physical world are both the input and the output, where the band reads and send an electrical signal in the muscles, sends it to the prosthetic via Bluetooth, and the prosthetic expresses that information as movements similar to that of a normal hand. As explored in this project, a decentralized approach to prosthesis might be healthier and cheaper than attempting to integrate all components into one device.

Photos and Video(s):

Sources:

https://www.engadget.com/2016/01/18/myo-wearable-controls-prosthetic-arm/

https://www.myo.com/

http://www.oandplibrary.org/alp/chap25-01.asp

http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2016/160112.asp