A calibrated database of kinematics and EMG of the forearm and hand during activities of daily living

Linking hand kinematics and forearm muscle activity is a challenging and crucial problem for several domains, such as prosthetics, 3D modelling or rehabilitation. To advance in this relationship between hand kinematics and muscle activity, synchronised and well-defined data are needed. However, currently available datasets are scarce, and the presented tasks and data are often limited. This paper presents the KIN-MUS UJI Dataset that contains 572 recordings with anatomical angles and forearm muscle activity of 22 subjects while performing 26 representative activities of daily living. This dataset is, to our knowledge, the biggest currently available hand kinematics and muscle activity dataset to focus on goal-oriented actions. Data were recorded using a CyberGlove instrumented glove and surface EMG electrodes, both properly synchronised. Eighteen hand anatomical angles were obtained from the glove sensors by a validated calibration procedure. Surface EMG activity was recorded from seven representative forearm areas. The statistics verified that data were not affected by the experimental procedures and were similar to the data acquired under real-life conditions.