**Abstract**

Development in the field of bio-mechatronics has provided diverse ways to mimic and improve the function of human limbs. Without an elbow joint, the hand remains stiff because all the muscles tension passes through this joint. Advanced myoelectric prosthetic devices are limited due to the lack of appropriate signal sources on residual amputee muscles and insufficient real-time control. Neuralmachine interfaces (NMI) are representing a recent approach to develop effective applications. In this research study, an NMI is designed that presents real-time signal processing for command generation. The human brain hemodynamic responses are, therefore, translated into control commands for people suffering from transhumeral amputation. A novel and first of its kind scheme is proposed which utilizes functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to generate the control commands for a three-degree-of-freedom (DOF) prosthetic arm. The time window for fNIRS signals was set to 1 second. The average accuracy was found to be 82% which is a state-of-the-art result for such a technique. The accuracy ranged from 65 to 85% subject-wise. The data were trained and tested on both artificial neural network (ANN) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Eight out of 10 motions were correctly predicted in real time by both classifiers.

**Keywords:** functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), real-time signal processing, upper-limb prosthesis, transhumeral amputees, artificial neural network, linear discriminant analysis
