Can We Develop Dynamic Hand Control?

Barber Prosthetics Clinic & MENRVA Research Group at SFU

Fun Fact: Barber was excited to be a part of the only Canadian team at the very first Cybathlon, an international assistive device competition.

In recent years, several multi-articulated hands have become commercially available, allowing for more complex function than the previous generation of hands. However, the strategies available to control electric hands remain largely unchanged and are the largest barrier to patients using these new hands to their full potential. To address this need, Barber Prosthetics Clinic has partnered with biomedical engineers and kinesiology researchers from Dr. Carlo Menon’s MENRVA Research Group at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. Our aim is to provide a more natural and intuitive control strategy for upper-limb prostheses with the Muscle Activity Sensor Strip (M.A.S.S.).

We attended the Cybathlon competition in Zurich, Switzerland in October 2016 to showcase this technology. The main goal of the Cybathlon was to provide a platform for the development of novel assistive technologies that are useful for daily life and it was incredible to see the wide range of devices featured. The competition received worldwide media coverage from major news broadcasters, just a few of them being BBC, CNN, CBC, CTV.

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