The Utah NeuroRobotics Lab was just awarded a $50,000 digital health grant to pivot our research into the mental health arena. EMG is typically recorded from the forearm to classify hand gestures/kinematics, but now we are using EMG from the wrist, in the form of a smartwatch, to predict activities of daily living. We think of this as a next-gen Fitbit: instead of tracking lower limb function, like if a person is sitting, standing, walking, falling, etc., we are tracking upper-limb function, like if a person is eating, typing, washing their hands, etc. The long-term goal is to build a map of an individual's lived space to promote healthy habits and detect anomalies. This grant will push us towards this goal by supporting a new mobile app and cloud computing infrastructure for our platform EMG technology. Our initial application seeks to help track instrumental activities of daily in patients with dementia to improve quality of life and reduce caregiver burden.
