Glide ProsthesisLong-Term Stability of the Glide Control Strategy

Participants use a Glide-controlled upper limb prosthesis first, followed by a Pattern Recognition-based upper limb prosthesis.

Participants use a Pattern Recognition-based upper limb prosthesis first, followed by a Glide-controlled upper limb prosthesis.

Glide is a commercially developed directional myoelectric control strategy from Infinite Biomedical Technologies (IBT) that sits between classic Direct Control (DC) and modern Pattern Recognition (PR). Instead of requiring an isolated on/off muscle signal for each function (e.g., DC) or training a complex classifier on many gestures (e.g., PR), Glide uses the relative activity across 2-8 EMG electrodes to move a virtual cursor on a 2-D "Glide map." The map is divided into adjustable sectors ("slices"), and each slice is assigned a prosthetic movement (e.g., hand open/close, wrist rotation, elbow flexion). Moving the cursor into a slice actuates that movement.

Pattern recognition (PR)-based myoelectric control is a data-driven approach that allows a user to control multiple prosthetic functions using natural muscle activation patterns rather than discrete, isolated signals. Instead of mapping one muscle to one motion (as in conventional Direct Control), PR systems record the spatial and temporal pattern of EMG activity from multiple sites on the residual limb and use machine learning algorithms to classify which intended movement the user is trying to make.