EMG-Controlled Saxophone
Group Members: Amaan Mirza, Lianna Mateski, Wyatt Wethington, Zyra Sheikh, and Myself
Designed and exhibited a prosthetic concept for the 2023 Engineering Open House that translates forearm muscle activation into saxophone keypresses, exploring how EMG-driven assistive devices could let musicians with limb-function loss continue playing. The system pairs a breadboarded surface-EMG front end (instrumentation amplifier, bandpass filtering, rectification) with an Arduino Uno that thresholds the signal and actuates servo motors over three saxophone keys. Designing and building the analog EMG acquisition circuit on the breadboard was my primary responsibility on the team. It is shown up close below, with the wired saxophone behind it, and again on the right side of our exhibit booth at the show.
Platforms & Tools: Arduino, C/C++, surface EMG circuitry, servo actuation