Huang Wins Prize for EMG/Lower-Limb Research

Helen He Huang, PhD, has won the 2008 Delsys Prize for her research into the myoelectric control of artificial limbs and for her research proposal, "Toward Neural Control of Artificial Legs: A New Strategy to Identify Locomotion Modes Using EMG [electromyography]." Huang is an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island (URI), Kingston. The Delsys Prize was established by Carlo J. De Luca, CEO of Delsys, Boston, Massachusetts, to promote innovation in the field of electromyography. Huang won a Delsys Myomonitor IV 16-channel EMG system with EMGworks® Signal Acquisition and Analysis Software, valued at $19,900, to aid in her research. Huang's entry was chosen from a field of 51 entries from around the world. She told the Warwick Beacon newspaper, "The prize comes at just the right time. I just joined URI and needed an EMG system. It is such an honor to have won. The device gives me the ability to continue work on my research and will benefit my lab and my graduate students."

In her proposal, Huang wrote that while no commercially available lower-limb prostheses are EMG controlled, and published studies in the area of myoelectric lower-limb control are limited, myoelectrics have strong potential to provide more intuitive control for lower-limb prostheses. She called the task-control switches in current microprocessor-controlled lower limbs "quite cumbersome for the users," because the selection of tasks is relegated to a manual or body-powered switch. She said that the switches do not allow for smooth task transition and added, "Hence, neural control of powered artificial legs is demanded for seamless mode transition."

Huang grew up in Beijing, China, and obtained a bachelor of science degree from Xi'an Jiaotong University, Beijing, in 2000. To pursue her interest in human movement control and rehabilitation, she moved to Tempe, Arizona, where she received a master of science degree in 2002 and a doctorate in 2006 from Arizona State University. She then moved to Chicago to become a post-doctoral research associate at the Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs (NECAL) at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC). There, she conducted research on lower-limb prostheses with Todd A. Kuiken, PhD. At URI's biomedical department, Huang currently teaches a class in feedback control systems.

To read Huang's proposal, visit www.delsys.com/Attachments_pdf/prize_winner_2008-web.pdf