Sensation Generation using Electrical Stimulation for a Prosthetic System

We propose the use of electrical stimulation to generate a new sensorial input to the human body to improve the man-machine interfacing, increasing the communication channels between a robot and the human body. This study focus on the sensation generation for a electromyographic (EMG) prosthetic hand, where the need of “biofeedback” is of vital importance to achieve subconscious control. We use electrical stimulation as a substitute for tactile feedback. The study shows the importance in the relationship between the intentionality from the user and the feedback provided to the body. This relationship allows the brain to correlate the information in one single event. We used an fMRI device to measure the activation of the brain related to the motor and somatosensory areas to confirm the sensation generation on the brain Index Terms – Biofeedback, electrical stimulation, man-machine interfaces ,fMRI..