Integrated Wearable Devices for Prosthetic Applications

The evolution of upper limb prosthetics has led to the availability of a wide range of devices that differ in technical features, functional purposes, and degree of user interaction. The use of increasingly innovative materials and technological advances, combined with microcontroller-based boards, ensures continuously improving prosthetic control. The development of advanced prosthetic systems increasingly relies on wearable electronic interfaces capable of providing accurate sensing and reliable decoding of human intentions. Although technological advances continue, prosthetic abandonment remains a major problem, as current technologies and control strategies for prosthetic hands limit people's dexterity, making daily activities burdensome. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new technologies to improve sensory feedback and implement control strategies to enhance the functionality of prosthetic hands. This thesis seeks to address these needs and presents three main contributions to the design and implementation of wearable front-end devices for prosthetic applications. First, a wearable front-end system for capacitive sensor arrays is introduced, enabling the construction of an electronic skin (e-skin) capable of detecting tactile information with high sensitivity and scalability. Second, a transistor based wearable front-end device for arrays in e-skin applications is proposed, demonstrating the feasibility of flexible and cost-effective e-skin platforms with improved mechanical compliance and greater integration potential.. Third, a medium-density EMG system with 32 dry electrodes positioned on the forearm is designed and validated for decoding hand movements. Together, these works help bridge the gap between wearable sensing technologies and next-generation closed-loop prosthetic interfaces, advancing both tactile sensing and neural decoding within a unified framework.