(J-369) Surface Electromyography as an Intuitive Control Strategy for Adaptive Downhill Skiing for Individuals with Tetraplegia

Introduction:: The long-term goal of this research is to develop safe, robust, and easy-to-use adaptive technology for individuals with tetraplegia. After a debilitating spinal cord injury, clinical care focuses on improving quality of life. Participation in adaptive sports has been shown to improve several aspects of quality of life. The TetraSki is a power-assisted ski chair that allows individuals with tetraplegia to participate in downhill skiing by sipping and puffing air through an integrated straw (Sip-and-Puff) to turn their skis. Here, we introduce a new intuitive and dexterous control strategy for the TetraSki using surface electromyography (sEMG) from the neck and shoulder muscles.


Materials and Methods:: As an initial assessment, six healthy participants completed a virtual ski racecourse using both sEMG control and Sip-and-Puff control. The virtual course was created in Unity game development software to mimic the physics and hardware of the physical TetraSki. Performance of each control strategy was assessed with racecourse completion time and the number of missed gates. Participants also completed a detection response task (DRT) of cognitive load and the NASA-TLX survey of subjective workload to assess cognitive demand of each control strategy.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: No significant differences were observed between the performance of sEMG control and the performance of Sip-and-Puff control. However, sEMG control required significantly less cognitive load and subjective workload than Sip-and-Puff control. Participants had significantly less DRT misses and significantly faster DRT response times when using sEMG control. Results from NASA-TLX survey categorized sEMG use as “somewhat high” workload and the Sip-and-Puff as “high” workload.

These results indicate that sEMG can provide effective control of adaptive sporting equipment, and that sEMG is significantly more intuitive than traditional Sip-and-Puff control. These results suggest that sEMG is a promising control method for further validation with individuals with tetraplegia. Future work could expand sEMG control to additional adaptive technologies, such as wheelchairs or the TetraSail. Ultimately, long-term use of sEMG control may promote neuroplasticity and drive rehabilitation through increased muscle usage, muscle strengthening, and synchronized visual feedback.


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