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Steering a Tractor by Means of an EMG-Based Human-Machine Interface

An electromiographic (EMG)-based human-machine interface (HMI) is a communication pathway between a human and a machine that operates by means of the acquisition and processing of EMG signals. This article explores the use of EMG-based HMIs in the steering of farm tractors. An EPOC, a low-cost human...

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Autores principales: Gomez-Gil, Jaime, San-Jose-Gonzalez, Israel, Nicolas-Alonso, Luis Fernando, Alonso-Garcia, Sergio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3231667/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22164006
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s110707110
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author Gomez-Gil, Jaime
San-Jose-Gonzalez, Israel
Nicolas-Alonso, Luis Fernando
Alonso-Garcia, Sergio
author_facet Gomez-Gil, Jaime
San-Jose-Gonzalez, Israel
Nicolas-Alonso, Luis Fernando
Alonso-Garcia, Sergio
author_sort Gomez-Gil, Jaime
collection PubMed
description An electromiographic (EMG)-based human-machine interface (HMI) is a communication pathway between a human and a machine that operates by means of the acquisition and processing of EMG signals. This article explores the use of EMG-based HMIs in the steering of farm tractors. An EPOC, a low-cost human-computer interface (HCI) from the Emotiv Company, was employed. This device, by means of 14 saline sensors, measures and processes EMG and electroencephalographic (EEG) signals from the scalp of the driver. In our tests, the HMI took into account only the detection of four trained muscular events on the driver’s scalp: eyes looking to the right and jaw opened, eyes looking to the right and jaw closed, eyes looking to the left and jaw opened, and eyes looking to the left and jaw closed. The EMG-based HMI guidance was compared with manual guidance and with autonomous GPS guidance. A driver tested these three guidance systems along three different trajectories: a straight line, a step, and a circumference. The accuracy of the EMG-based HMI guidance was lower than the accuracy obtained by manual guidance, which was lower in turn than the accuracy obtained by the autonomous GPS guidance; the computed standard deviations of error to the desired trajectory in the straight line were 16 cm, 9 cm, and 4 cm, respectively. Since the standard deviation between the manual guidance and the EMG-based HMI guidance differed only 7 cm, and this difference is not relevant in agricultural steering, it can be concluded that it is possible to steer a tractor by an EMG-based HMI with almost the same accuracy as with manual steering.
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spelling pubmed-32316672011-12-07 Steering a Tractor by Means of an EMG-Based Human-Machine Interface Gomez-Gil, Jaime San-Jose-Gonzalez, Israel Nicolas-Alonso, Luis Fernando Alonso-Garcia, Sergio Sensors (Basel) Article An electromiographic (EMG)-based human-machine interface (HMI) is a communication pathway between a human and a machine that operates by means of the acquisition and processing of EMG signals. This article explores the use of EMG-based HMIs in the steering of farm tractors. An EPOC, a low-cost human-computer interface (HCI) from the Emotiv Company, was employed. This device, by means of 14 saline sensors, measures and processes EMG and electroencephalographic (EEG) signals from the scalp of the driver. In our tests, the HMI took into account only the detection of four trained muscular events on the driver’s scalp: eyes looking to the right and jaw opened, eyes looking to the right and jaw closed, eyes looking to the left and jaw opened, and eyes looking to the left and jaw closed. The EMG-based HMI guidance was compared with manual guidance and with autonomous GPS guidance. A driver tested these three guidance systems along three different trajectories: a straight line, a step, and a circumference. The accuracy of the EMG-based HMI guidance was lower than the accuracy obtained by manual guidance, which was lower in turn than the accuracy obtained by the autonomous GPS guidance; the computed standard deviations of error to the desired trajectory in the straight line were 16 cm, 9 cm, and 4 cm, respectively. Since the standard deviation between the manual guidance and the EMG-based HMI guidance differed only 7 cm, and this difference is not relevant in agricultural steering, it can be concluded that it is possible to steer a tractor by an EMG-based HMI with almost the same accuracy as with manual steering. Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) 2011-07-11 /pmc/articles/PMC3231667/ /pubmed/22164006 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s110707110 Text en © 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gomez-Gil, Jaime
San-Jose-Gonzalez, Israel
Nicolas-Alonso, Luis Fernando
Alonso-Garcia, Sergio
Steering a Tractor by Means of an EMG-Based Human-Machine Interface
title Steering a Tractor by Means of an EMG-Based Human-Machine Interface
title_full Steering a Tractor by Means of an EMG-Based Human-Machine Interface
title_fullStr Steering a Tractor by Means of an EMG-Based Human-Machine Interface
title_full_unstemmed Steering a Tractor by Means of an EMG-Based Human-Machine Interface
title_short Steering a Tractor by Means of an EMG-Based Human-Machine Interface
title_sort steering a tractor by means of an emg-based human-machine interface
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3231667/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22164006
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s110707110
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