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Myo Armband : First Gesture Wearable

This wearable tech was developed in 2015 by thalmic labs. Myo detects your muscle movement when you are wearing it. Myo armband is to be wore on your hand just below your elbow. Myo armband works differently compared to other wearable tech and it reads electrical signals from your forearm, map them into gestures and control the devices using gestures.
The Myo Armband has three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer and three-axis magnetometer to sense motions in all direction. To read muscle activity, Myo used medical grade EMG sensor which is wrapped into eight different blocks. Every block is powered individually using small Lithium ion batteries embedded within the block.
These muscle activity and gestures done are handled by on board ARM cortex M4 Processor, which communicates with your device using Bluetooth. It also provides functionality for systems which don’t have built in Bluetooth by providing a Bluetooth dongle which can be plugged and used for your system.
How to use Myo Armband?
Firstly, Myo Armband should be updated with latest software version. It is then ready to be used once it’s charged. Connect the Bluetooth dongle in your system and start with the calibration process. Wear the armband just below the elbow and wait for EMG sensors to get warmed up. Once the warming of sensor is completed, Myo sync gesture has to be performed which gets synced with your muscle activity.

Compatibility:
The armband comes with a preinstalled software which makes it more productive to use with various applications. This software as well as various applications are available in Myo market. It has five predefined gestures which are WaveIn, WaveOut, FingerSpread, Fist and DoubleTap.
Myo is developed in such a way that you can interface if with Arduino, Raspberry Pi and it also supports other platforms like MAC and Linux.
If you are interested to explore more about this amazing product you can visit www.myo.com and www.thalmic.com
Performance:
Gesture recognition is done precisely as long as the sensors are calibrated properly. Apart from so many features, developers have added some more interesting features like presentation control, gaming, music control, etc.
Pros:
·         Easy setup.
·         Expandable design.
·         Broad compatibility.
·         Super-fast responsive.
·         Easy integration with other platforms and hardware.
Cons:
·         Limited gestures.
·         Calibration takes few trials.

Conclusion:
Overall performance results are amazing and it can be used for precise applications. This technology can be used for prosthetic limbs, mapping with different applications can increase the productivity of this amazing wearable tech.
Did you find this technology interesting???
Please give your reviews in the comment section below
Pic Courtesy: “The Myo gesture control armband from Thalmic Labs”
Editor: Taher Ujjainwala

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