Backyard Brains

Yes, you can! If you have both the Muscle SpikerBox Pro and HHI, but wonder how to connect them together, we've documented every step how you can do it.

• First, you'll need to remove the protective transparent lid from Muscle SpikerBox Pro to better access the Expansion port and make attaching header pins a lot easier.
  
  
  
  
• To make the connection between the Muscle SpikerBox Pro and HHI, you'll need three header male to female cables.
  
  
  
  
  
• Connect the first (black) header cable to the Ground pin, on the Expansion port. Second header cable connect to the CH1 and the third header cable connect to the CH2. Like shown in the picture below.
  
  
  
  
• Once you've finished setting up the connection on your Muscle SpikerBox Pro, it's time to attach the other side of header cables to your HHI. It's important to know where the ground and analog pins are on the Arduino Uno. Please advise the pictures below.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Since the A0 analog pin is already occupied by the default setting of HHI, you'll be connecting the pins from Muscle SpikerBox Pro to A1 and A2 analog pins. More specifically, connect the CH1 with A1 and CH2 with A2 pin. Like shown below.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Once you've connected two boards together, connect the electrode cables, attach the battery to Muscle Pro and plug in the HHI into your laptop.
  
  Note: The position of a little black toggle switch on the Muscle SpikerBox Pro doesn't matter, because Muscle SpikerBox Pro will automatically send both of those channels to analog pins on the Arduino.
  
  
  
  
• Then open up the Spike Recorder. In it, an USB symbol will appear right next to FFT. When you click on that symbol, by a default, you'll receive EMG signals coming from HHI and not from the Muscle SpikerBox Pro.
  
  
  
• To enable other two channels that are coming from Muscle SpikerBox Pro, go into Config menu (little gears icon)>Number of channels> 3. That will show one default channel from HHI + two other channels coming from Muscle SpikerBox Pro.
  
  
  
• Once you've clicked the number 3, it will return you into a Live mode, in Spike Recorder, showing all those 3 channels at once, in real time.
  
  
  
• Time to test the setup! Try flexing your muscles and check how different EMG signals, from both  Muscle SpikerBox Pro and HHI, get recognized.
  
  
  
• You can also record your experiment and save it for later analysis.
  
  
  
  

Important Note: You can attach up to 2 Muscle SpikerBox Pros onto one HHI board or 5 regular Muscle Spikerboxes or DIY Muscle Spikerbox onto one HHI board.

You can also find the original recording made with setup, in the attachment; which you can download and use for your analysis and experiments.