Senior Design Project

During the ongoing course of my senior design project I have been able actively implement and incorporate the design strategies and approaches I learned in my Design Project class (BME 437) I have attended last year’s fall. The skills I have gained throughout the class include: Product Development Process, Product Design, Literature Searches, Project Planning and Scheduling, Food and Drug Administration Design Controls, Engineering Ethics and Technical Presenting.

My team and I are designing an Actuated Finger Exoskeleton with Myo-Control, which is a system that assist post stroke patients regaining their fingers range of motion using muscle control throughout their rehabilitation process. The teams consist of two advisers and three students: Brent Ulrey, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Patrick Carley, Clinical Adviser at American International College; Dakota Ferguson, Biomedical Engineering Senior; Paris Mathis, Computer Engineering Senior and myself.

The majority of stroke survivors are left with an inadequately functioning hemiparetic hand, which is a condition of paralysis affecting one side of the body. Rehabilitation robotics has shown promising potential in providing patients with intensive therapy leading to functional gains. The proposed device consists of the Myo-interface in conjunction with an exoskeleton finger. The Myo-interface system is comprised of the Myo armband, Bluetooth dongle, Bluetooth shield, Arduino board and virtual reality video game built on Unreal Engine. By combining

Therefore, my task was developing the previously mentioned Myo-interface algorithm that controls an actuated finger exoskeleton utilizing surface electromyography from forearm muscles during dynamic free movements of single fingers, as well as building the interactive video