Multi-scale EMG classification with spatial-temporal attention for prosthetic hands

Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Engin. 2025 Feb;28(3):337-352. doi: 10.1080/10255842.2023.2287419. Epub 2023 Nov 30.

Abstract

A classification framework for hand gestures using Electromyography (EMG) signals in prosthetic hands is presented. Leveraging the multi-scale characteristics and temporal nature of EMG signals, a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is used to extract multi-scale features and classify them with spatial-temporal attention. A multi-scale coarse-grained layer introduced into the input of one-dimensional CNN (1D-CNN) facilitates multi-scale feature extraction. The multi-scale features are fed into the attention layer and subsequently given to the fully connected layer to perform classification. The proposed model achieves classification accuracies of 93.4%, 92.8%, 91.3%, and 94.1% for Ninapro DB1, DB2, DB5, and DB7 respectively, thereby enhancing the confidence of prosthetic hand users.

Keywords: Convolutional neural network; electromyography; multi-head attention; temporal aspect.

MeSH terms

  • Artificial Limbs*
  • Electromyography*
  • Hand* / physiology
  • Humans
  • Neural Networks, Computer
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted