Active Muscle Stimulator (Trask)
Stuff about the development of the active muscle stimulator, a device that assists people with neurological challenges in relation to muscle activation.
Introduction We have already documented the development of a device for controlling the Tibialis Anterior leg muscles during movements such as running. The software for that device was developed in C++ for maximum performance and for portability to microcontrollers. The existing device was running on a 1GHz Raspberry Pi Zero. In the following we are … Continue reading A Microcontroller Controlling My Legs 1.5/2
The following is a short summary of my efforts related to using a microcontroller for controlling some of my leg muscles. Motivation I find the idea of compensating for physical inability by attaching computers to the human body quite fascinating. In this post we are continuing this journey by trying to activate the muscle activation … Continue reading A Microcontroller Controlling My Legs 1/2
I have received a few questions regarding positioning of the electrodes for optimal effect. Sample Electrode Positioning For starters, the leg has to be clean (no lotion and such) and preferably with no body hair where the electrodes are placed. By activating the tibialis anterior muscle, it is possible to feel where it ends. This … Continue reading Electrode Positioning
Running around with a game controller immediate delivers on an ultra nerdy/crazy scientist look. Also, the USB sockets tend to wear out, due to the movements associated with running. In order to deal for both issues, I acquired a compact wireless controller, which comes with a wrist strap. It seems to fit perfectly for use … Continue reading Wireless Device Programming
When performing experiments with hardware, it is sometimes difficult to avid soldering. That said, I ended up doing a little more soldering than planned (basically because I am not very good at it). I managed to fit Raspberry Pi Zero and Sense HAT (B) very tight together, and added in between a Pico HAT Hacker, … Continue reading Soldering and Relay Alternatives
This weekend I did a lot of programming on this project. All the interesting stuff related to the math is still pending, but most of the boring stuff is now complete. Setting up an appropriate development environment.Enabling Raspberry programming with code-completion from Windows.Enabling Windows builds of the code for testing the math algorithms.Developing application drivers … Continue reading Low Level Programming Weekend
This posting relates to examining one possibility for a Raspberry Pi Zero to control signals for muscle actication via electrodes attached at muscle motorpoints. The option we cover here is somewhat quick and dirty, and it relates to simply routing signals from an external TENS/EMS unit through a relay board. In order to investigate this … Continue reading Testing the Speed and Accuracy of Relays
I have been active in sports all my life, in particular doing cycling, running and swimming. I don’t do these activities at the same time, but rather as a set of three activities, where any will do, depending on weather and physical ability. I always found it beneficial having a fallback activity when specific muscles … Continue reading Active Muscle Stimulator Background
Active Muscle Stimulator (Trask) 