MyoWare 2.0 Muscle Sensor

The Sparkfun MyoWare® 2.0 Muscle Sensor is an all-in-one electromyography (EMG) sensor that allows you to control devices using muscle activity. This Arduino-compatible sensor has been redesigned with an easy-to-use, compact design and upgraded chipset for improved performance and reliability. The innovative snap connector system eliminates the need for soldering, making it easy to connect to the MyoWare 2.0 ecosystem. Simply attach a few electrodes (not included), read the output voltage, and control devices by flexing your muscles.

The MyoWare 2.0 Muscle Sensor measures muscle activity through the electric potential of the muscle, known as surface electromyography (EMG or sEMG). When your brain signals your muscle to flex, it sends an electrical signal to your muscle, which recruits motor units to generate force. The harder you flex, the more motor units are recruited, and the greater the electrical activity. The MyoWare 2.0 Muscle Sensor analyzes this electrical activity and outputs a signal that represents the intensity of the muscle flex.

Building on its previous wearable design, the MyoWare 2.0 Muscle Sensor allows you to attach biomedical sensor pads directly to the board, eliminating the need for cables. The board features a single-supply voltage of +3.3V to +5V, three output modes, reverse polarity protected power pins, and indicator LEDs. It is also expandable via shields, which can be easily stacked together using the sensor’s snap connector system. The top side connectors link to power and the sensor’s EMG envelope output, while the bottom side links to the input electrodes.

Traditionally used for medical research, the measurement of muscle activity through its electric potential has found its way into various control systems such as video games, robotics, and prosthetics, thanks to shrinking yet more powerful microcontrollers and integrated circuits. Biomedical sensor pads can be purchased separately in the Recommended Products section.

Please note that the MyoWare and the Muscle Sensor are not intended for use in diagnosing, treating, or preventing disease in humans or animals.

The MyoWare® 2.0 ecosystem consists of shields that easily interface with the MyoWare® 2.0 Muscle Sensor. This low-cost, Arduino-compatible, all-in-one electromyography (EMG) sensor from Advancer Technologies features an innovative connector system that allows users to easily snap shields together with a compact low profile and connect to a microcontroller's analog input to measure the raw, filtered, and rectified electrical activity of a target muscle. This eliminates the need for soldering connections between boards.

This product is a collaboration with Brian Kaminski from Advancer Technologies. A portion of each sale goes back to them for product support and continued development.

The MyoWare 2.0 Muscle Sensor offers a wearable design, a supply voltage ranging from +2.27V to +5.47V, an input bias current of 250pA (max 1nA), reverse polarity protection, three output modes, and expandability via shields. The sensor form factor includes 3x female snap pins (input electrodes) and 3x male snap pins (power and EMG envelope output), LED indicators, a reference electrode jumper, and is specially designed for microcontrollers. It also offers adjustable gain and has board dimensions of 37.57mm x 35.90mm.

Revision changes for V2.0.4 include an increased PCB board thickness, NPTH for snap connector buttons, an updated footprint for snap connectors buttons with slots for improved cleaning, and an updated size of the reference pin's jumper pad.

Documents available for this product include board dimensions, a hookup guide, a quickstart guide, an advanced guide, and patents. There are also Arduino reference language: ArduinoBLE Library, GitHub example repo, and MyoWare 2.0 Ecosystem Page.

Please note that this product is patent protected. To prevent counterfeit boards, the Eagle design files and GitHub hardware repository are not shared for boards in the MyoWare 2.0 ecosystem.