Command generation for FES enhanced grasping utilizing surface EMG in cervical injured

This is a preliminary report on a process to interpret commands from surface electromyography (sEMG) to assist grasping by individuals who have high level spinal cord injuries. The process extracts information from wrist extensor muscles sEMG to detect two distinct levels of volitional wrist extension. These levels could be used in any combination to implement specific commands to, "increase" or "decrease" stimulation intensity to finger flexor muscles for enhanced grasping. The process discriminated between true commands and potentially false signals due to either activities of daily living or stimulation artifacts. It is simple enough for implementation with basic, readily available hardware.