Design and Implementation of an EMG Controlled 3D Printed Prosthetic Arm

Electromyography (EMG) is a biomedical signal which is recorded from muscle. It can detect muscle movements. By using HMI (human machine interfacing), EMG can be used to control prosthetic arms by an amputee individual. The available prosthetic arms and EMG signal recorders both are very expensive. The price of commercial prosthetic arm starts from 100,000 BDT. So, an affordable prosthetic arm is required for the people of Bangladesh. In this project an EMG recorder circuit along with a prosthetic arm was designed. The arm was printed using 3D printer and the recorder circuit was also printed in a circuit board (PCB) and built with available components. The 3D printed prosthetic arm was interfaced with the EMG recorder by Arduino microcontroller. The recorded signal was processed in both analog and digital domain. The arm was tested by an amputee individual who was able to control the prosthetic arm by muscle contraction which was detected by the EMG recorder. To minimize the cost, this project was completed using locally available resources. Total cost of this project was within 4,000 BDT. People who are amputee can use this 3D printed prosthetic arm to improve their quality of life.