Bimanual High-Density EMG Control for In-Home Mobile Manipulation by a User with Quadriplegia

2026-02-02

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge faced by individuals with high-level paraplegia, who are often unable to operate conventional control interfaces due to limb paralysis, thereby limiting their ability to perform household tasks independently. To overcome this barrier, the authors propose a shared autonomy system based on a wearable dual-arm high-density electromyography (HDEMG) sleeve that captures residual neuromuscular signals. Integrated with vision, language, and motion planning modules, the system enables real-time gesture-based control of a mobile manipulator in real-world home environments. This work presents the first demonstration of the feasibility of using bilateral HDEMG signals for effective control of a mobile manipulator by individuals with high-level paraplegia in domestic settings. Over a 12-day in-home trial, participants successfully completed multiple activities of daily living, significantly enhancing the robustness and practicality of navigation-intensive manipulation tasks.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Multiagent Systems: Adversarial Agents

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems

Abstract

Mobile manipulators in the home can enable people with cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI) to perform daily physical household tasks that they could not otherwise do themselves. However, paralysis in these users often limits access to traditional robot control interfaces such as joysticks or keyboards. In this work, we introduce and deploy the first system that enables a user with quadriplegia to control a mobile manipulator in their own home using bimanual high-density electromyography (HDEMG). We develop a pair of custom, fabric-integrated HDEMG forearm sleeves, worn on both arms, that capture residual neuromotor activity from clinically paralyzed degrees of freedom and support real-time gesture-based robot control. Second, by integrating vision, language, and motion planning modules, we introduce a shared autonomy framework that supports robust and user-driven teleoperation, with particular benefits for navigation-intensive tasks in home environments. Finally, to demonstrate the system in the wild, we present a twelve-day in-home user study evaluating real-time use of the wearable EMG interface for daily robot control. Together, these system components enable effective robot control for performing activities of daily living and other household tasks in a real home environment.

Problem

• quadriplegia
• mobile manipulation
• in-home robot control
• high-density EMG
• assistive robotics

Innovation

• high-density EMG
• bimanual control
• shared autonomy
• mobile manipulation
• in-home assistive robotics