TraHGR: Transformer for Hand Gesture Recognition via Electromyography

Deep learning-based Hand Gesture Recognition (HGR) via surface Electromyogram (sEMG) signals have recently shown considerable potential for development of advanced myoelectric-controlled prosthesis. Although deep learning techniques can improve HGR accuracy compared to their classical counterparts, classifying hand movements based on sparse multichannel sEMG signals is still a challenging task. Furthermore, existing deep learning approaches, typically, include only one model as such can hardly extract representative features. In this paper, we aim to address this challenge by capitalizing on the recent advances in hybrid models and transformers. In other words, we propose a hybrid framework based on the transformer architecture, which is a relatively new and revolutionizing deep learning model. The proposed hybrid architecture, referred to as the Transformer for Hand Gesture Recognition (TraHGR), consists of two parallel paths followed by a linear layer that acts as a fusion center to integrate the advantage of each module. We evaluated the proposed architecture TraHGR based on the commonly used second Ninapro dataset, referred to as the DB2. The sEMG signals in the DB2 dataset are measured in real-life conditions from 40 healthy users, each performing 49 gestures. We have conducted an extensive set of experiments to test and validate the proposed TraHGR architecture, and compare its achievable accuracy with several recently proposed HGR classification algorithms over the sam...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research