Lessons Learnt from Using Electrical Muscle Stimulation to Actuate Agonist and Antagonist Muscle Pairs

Abstract

Electrical muscle stimulation is widely explored in human-computer interaction. While most of the studies focus on the possible applications, others are directed towards the actuated movement accuracy. Extending the latter, we tested 9 different signal designs that combine the actuation of the muscle with the actuation of its antagonist. Our results indicate that the movement is not consistent when combining two opposing actuations although single muscles can be actuated consistently. Based on our obtained results, we distill design recommendations.