fNIRS-Based Action Detection for Lower Limb Amputees in Sit-to-Stand Tasks

• Published in: IEEE transactions on medical robotics and bionics Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 1248 - 1262
• Main Authors: Huang, Ruisen, Shang, Wenze, Li, Yongchen, Li, Guanglin, Wu, Xinyu, Gao, Fei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.08.2025
• Subjects: Accuracy; Electromyography; Functional near-infrared spectroscopy; Legged locomotion; machine learning; Motion capture; Motors; Neuroprostheses; Robot sensing systems; Sensors; sit-to-stand; Synchronization; transfemoral prostheses
• ISSN: 2576-3202; 2576-3202
• DOI: 10.1109/TMRB.2025.3573411

Traditional transfemoral lower-limb prostheses often overlook the intuitive neuronal connections between the brain and prosthetic actuators. This study bridges this gap by integrating a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) into real-time lower-limb prosthesis control with preliminary clinical tests on the above-knee amputee, enabling a more reliable volitional control of the prosthesis. Cerebral hemodynamic responses were measured using a 56-channel fNIRS headset, and lower-limb kinematics were recorded with a optical motion capture system. Artifacts in fNIRS were mitigated using short-separation regression, and eight features of the fNIRS data were extracted. ANOVA revealed the means, slope, and entropy as top-performing features across all subjects. Among eight classifiers tested, k-nearest neighbor (KNN) emerged as the most accurate. In this study, we recruited eleven healthy subjects and one unilateral transfemoral amputee. Classification rates surpassed 97% for all classes, maintaining an average accuracy of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">99.86\pm 0.01 </tex-math></inline-formula>%. Notably, the amputee exhibited higher precision, sensitivity, and F1 scores than healthy subjects. Maximum temporal latencies for healthy subjects were <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">120.00\pm 49.40 </tex-math></inline-formula> ms during sit-down and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">119.09\pm 45.71 </tex-math></inline-formula> ms during stand-up, while the amputee showed maximum temporal latencies of 90 ms and 190 ms, respectively. This study marks the first application of action detection in sit-to-stand tasks for transfemoral amputees via fNIRS, which underscores the potential of fNIRS in neuroprostheses control.