How the MYO arm band works
Measuring the electrical activity of muscle movement, the arm band uses Bluetooth 4.0 to communicate with compatible devices. It has on-board, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and an ARM processor outfitted with muscle activity sensors, integrating a six-axis inertial measurement unit for fully immersed interactive experiences (think shooter games, controlling vehicles, etc.).
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The company explains, “The MYO detects gestures and movements in two ways: 1) muscle activity, and 2) motion sensing. When sensing the muscle movements of the user, the MYO can detect changes down to each individual finger. When tracking the position of the arm and hand, the MYO can detect subtle movements and rotations in all directions.”
Further, “Movements can be detected very quickly – sometimes, it even looks like the gesture is recognized before your hand starts moving! This is because the muscles are activated slightly before your fingers actually start moving, and we are able to detect the gesture before that happens!”
Windows and Mac OS will be fully supported, and APIs will also be available for iOS and Android.