Designing a Self-Powered Hydrogel-Based Wearable EMG Device

Neuromuscular conditions arising from accidents, injuries, or genetic neurodegenerative conditions can significantly affect the patient’s physical and mental well-being, and tracking their progression and treatment often requires continuous monitoring. Herein, we propose a self-powered IoT-enabled wearable electromyography (EMG) solution that integrates flexible solar panels embedded in everyday clothes. This study presents a self-powered wearable EMG system that integrates flexible solar cells, hydrogel-based electrodes, and a microcontroller-driven circuit. The solar cells deliver 1.763 W, 1.7 W, and 0.95 W in cloudy, sunny, and indoor conditions, respectively, ensuring sufficient power for charging a rechargeable battery and supporting extended operation. The innovative hydrogel-based electrodes outperform traditional silver-silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes, offering enhanced signal quality, skin-friendliness, sustainability, and conformability for comfortable long-term use. The system employs a multitasking algorithm to process muscle activity in real-time and uses WiFi to transmit the data to the Arduino cloud for remote monitoring. This user-friendly, sustainable solution overcomes the limitations of conventional EMG systems by enabling uninterrupted monitoring in remote areas and diverse environments. Its versatile design benefits healthcare, rehabilitation, and sports applications.Clinical relevance-The extracted EMG feature profile and pattern enable a deeper quantitative assessment of the overall muscle state. For instance, each parameter could be used to track an aspect of the muscle activity. Healthcare providers are empowered to diagnose diseases more accurately by matching each disorder with a certain profile, monitor rehabilitation progress by observing changing trends in a certain parameter, or, similarly, assess sports performance.