Event

Let's talk ten year old tech! The Myo armband from Thalmic Labs was once a really strange way to control a computer, and then became a pretty good way to do fine-grained myomuscular electrical detection research for prosthetics. These processes usually have a high cost or involve less-portable computing systems. In order to make a robotic effect that can be deployed apparently independently, it's more interesting to have a low-cost, encapsulated system.

In this talk we'll walk through what it takes in 2023 to have a Thalmic Myo armband talk to a Raspberry Pi 3B+ using Python. We'll provide a demonstration of a pneumatic robot based on the Programmable Air system controlled over serial using the armband.

The goal of this project is to have access to strong mechanical advantage without the compromises of servos or stepper motors, and with some of the organic feel possible with air or water systems.