Kinesthesis can make an invisible hand visible

PubMed Central

Dieter, Kevin C.; Hu, Bo; Knill, David C.; Blake, Randolph; Tadin, Duje

2014-01-01

Self-generated body movements have reliable visual consequences. This predictive association between vision and action likely underlies modulatory effects of action on visual processing. However, it is unknown if our own actions can have generative effects on visual perception. We asked whether, in total darkness, self-generated body movements are sufficient to evoke normally concomitant visual perceptions. Using a deceptive experimental design, we discovered that waving one’s own hand in front of one’s covered eyes can cause visual sensations of motion. Conjecturing that these visual sensations arise from multisensory connectivity, we showed that individuals with synesthesia experience substantially stronger kinesthesis-induced visual sensations. Finally, we found that the perceived vividness of kinesthesis-induced visual sensations predicted participants’ ability to smoothly eye-track self-generated hand movements in darkness, indicating that these sensations function like typical retinally-driven visual sensations. Evidently, even in the complete absence of external visual input, our brains predict visual consequences of our actions. PMID:24171930

Double nerve intraneural interface implant on a human amputee for robotic hand control.

PubMed

Rossini, Paolo M; Micera, Silvestro; Benvenuto, Antonella; Carpaneto, Jacopo; Cavallo, Giuseppe; Citi, Luca; Cipriani, Christian; Denaro, Luca; Denaro, Vincenzo; Di Pino, Giovanni; Ferreri, Florinda; Guglielmelli, Eugenio; Hoffmann, Klaus-Peter; Raspopovic, Stanisa; Rigosa, Jacopo; Rossini, Luca; Tombini, Mario; Dario, Paolo

2010-05-01

The principle underlying this project is that, despite nervous reorganization following upper limb amputation, original pathways and CNS relays partially maintain their function and can be exploited for interfacing prostheses. Aim of this study is to evaluate a novel peripheral intraneural multielectrode for multi-movement prosthesis control and for sensory feed-back, while assessing cortical reorganization following the re-acquired stream of data. Four intrafascicular longitudinal flexible multielectrodes (tf-LIFE4) were implanted in the median and ulnar nerves of an amputee; they reliably recorded output signals for 4 weeks. Artificial intelligence classifiers were used off-line to analyse LIFE signals recorded during three distinct hand movements under voluntary order. Real-time control of motor output was achieved for the three actions. When applied off-line artificial intelligence reached >85% real-time correct classification of trials. Moreover, different types of current stimulation were determined to allow reproducible and localized hand/fingers sensations. Cortical organization was observed via TMS in parallel with partial resolution of symptoms due to the phantom-limb syndrome (PLS). tf-LIFE4s recorded output signals in human nerves for 4 weeks, though the efficacy of sensory stimulation decayed after 10 days. Recording from a number of fibres permitted a high percentage of distinct actions to be classified correctly. Reversal of plastic changes and alleviation of PLS represent corollary findings of potential therapeutic benefit. This study represents a breakthrough in robotic hand use in amputees. Copyright 2010 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Projecting sensations to external objects: evidence from skin conductance response.

PubMed

Armel, K Carrie; Ramachandran, V S

2003-07-22

Subjects perceived touch sensations as arising from a table (or a rubber hand) when both the table (or the rubber hand) and their own real hand were repeatedly tapped and stroked in synchrony with the real hand hidden from view. If the table or rubber hand was then 'injured', subjects displayed a strong skin conductance response (SCR) even though nothing was done to the real hand. Sensations could even be projected to anatomically impossible locations. The illusion was much less vivid, as indicated by subjective reports and SCR, if the real hand was simultaneously visible during stroking, or if the real hand was hidden but touched asynchronously. The fact that the illusion could be significantly diminished when the real hand was simultaneously visible suggests that the illusion and associated SCRs were due to perceptual assimilation of the table (or rubber hand) into one's body image rather than associative conditioning. These experiments demonstrate the malleability of body image and the brain's remarkable capacity for detecting statistical correlations in the sensory input.

Projecting sensations to external objects: evidence from skin conductance response.

PubMed Central

Armel, K Carrie; Ramachandran, V S

2003-01-01

Subjects perceived touch sensations as arising from a table (or a rubber hand) when both the table (or the rubber hand) and their own real hand were repeatedly tapped and stroked in synchrony with the real hand hidden from view. If the table or rubber hand was then 'injured', subjects displayed a strong skin conductance response (SCR) even though nothing was done to the real hand. Sensations could even be projected to anatomically impossible locations. The illusion was much less vivid, as indicated by subjective reports and SCR, if the real hand was simultaneously visible during stroking, or if the real hand was hidden but touched asynchronously. The fact that the illusion could be significantly diminished when the real hand was simultaneously visible suggests that the illusion and associated SCRs were due to perceptual assimilation of the table (or rubber hand) into one's body image rather than associative conditioning. These experiments demonstrate the malleability of body image and the brain's remarkable capacity for detecting statistical correlations in the sensory input. PMID:12965016

Hand Rehabilitation Robotics on Poststroke Motor Recovery

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The recovery of hand function is one of the most challenging topics in stroke rehabilitation. Although the robot-assisted therapy has got some good results in the latest decades, the development of hand rehabilitation robotics is left behind. Existing reviews of hand rehabilitation robotics focus either on the mechanical design on designers' view or on the training paradigms on the clinicians' view, while these two parts are interconnected and both important for designers and clinicians. In this review, we explore the current literature surrounding hand rehabilitation robots, to help designers make better choices among varied components and thus promoting the application of hand rehabilitation robots. An overview of hand rehabilitation robotics is provided in this paper firstly, to give a general view of the relationship between subjects, rehabilitation theories, hand rehabilitation robots, and its evaluation. Secondly, the state of the art hand rehabilitation robotics is introduced in detail according to the classification of the hardware system and the training paradigm. As a result, the discussion gives available arguments behind the classification and comprehensive overview of hand rehabilitation robotics. PMID:29230081

Robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery with simple laparoscopy for diaphragm eventration.

PubMed

Ahn, Joong Hyun; Suh, Jong Hui; Jeong, Jin Yong

2013-09-01

Robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery has been applied for general thoracic operations. Its advantages include not only those of minimally invasive surgery but also those of magnified three-dimensional vision and angulation of the robotic arm. However, there are no direct tactile sensation and force feedback, which can cause unwanted organ damage. We therefore used laparoscopy simultaneously to avoid a blind intraperitoneal area during robotic surgery for diaphragmatic eventration via transthoracic approach and describe the technique herein. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Thermographic Evaluation of the Hands of Pig Slaughterhouse Workers Exposed to Cold Temperatures.

PubMed

Tirloni, Adriana Seára; Reis, Diogo Cunha Dos; Ramos, Eliane; Moro, Antônio Renato Pereira

2017-07-26

Brazil was rated the fourth leading producer and exporter of pork meat in the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the temperature of the hands of pig slaughterhouse workers and its relation to the thermal sensation of the hands and the use of a cutting tool. The study included 106 workers in a pig slaughterhouse. An infrared camera FlirThermaCAM E320 (Flir Systems, Wilsonville, OR, USA) was used to collect the images of the dorsal and palmar surfaces of both hands. A numerical scale was used to obtain the thermal sensation. Chi-square test, Pearson correlation and Student's t test or Wilcoxon were used ( p ≤ 0.05). The majority of workers felt cold in the hands (66%) and workers who used the knife felt the coldest. There was an association between the thermal sensation and the use of knife ( p = 0.001). Workers who used the tool showed correlation between the thermal sensation and the temperatures of the left fingers, with a difference between the temperatures of the right and left hands of those who used the knife ( p ≤ 0.05). The hands (left) that manipulated the products presented the lowest temperatures. Findings indicate that employers of pig slaughterhouses should provide gloves with adequate thermal insulation to preserve the health of workers' hands.

Thermographic Evaluation of the Hands of Pig Slaughterhouse Workers Exposed to Cold Temperatures

PubMed Central

Ramos, Eliane

2017-01-01

Brazil was rated the fourth leading producer and exporter of pork meat in the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the temperature of the hands of pig slaughterhouse workers and its relation to the thermal sensation of the hands and the use of a cutting tool. The study included 106 workers in a pig slaughterhouse. An infrared camera FlirThermaCAM E320 (Flir Systems, Wilsonville, OR, USA) was used to collect the images of the dorsal and palmar surfaces of both hands. A numerical scale was used to obtain the thermal sensation. Chi-square test, Pearson correlation and Student’s t test or Wilcoxon were used (p ≤ 0.05). The majority of workers felt cold in the hands (66%) and workers who used the knife felt the coldest. There was an association between the thermal sensation and the use of knife (p = 0.001). Workers who used the tool showed correlation between the thermal sensation and the temperatures of the left fingers, with a difference between the temperatures of the right and left hands of those who used the knife (p ≤ 0.05). The hands (left) that manipulated the products presented the lowest temperatures. Findings indicate that employers of pig slaughterhouses should provide gloves with adequate thermal insulation to preserve the health of workers’ hands. PMID:28933764

Development of Pneumatic Robot Hand and Construction of Master-Slave System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsujiuchi, Nobutaka; Koizumi, Takayuki; Nishino, Shinya; Komatsubara, Hiroyuki; Kudawara, Tatsuwo; Hirano, Masanori

Recently, research and development has focused on robots that work in place of people. It is necessary for robots to perform the same flexible motions as people. Additionally, such robots need to incorporate high-level safety features in order not to injure people. For creation of such robots, we need to develop a robot hand that functions like a human hand. At the same time, this type of robot hand can be used as an artificial hand. Here, we present artificial muscle-type pneumatic actuators as the driving source of a robot hand that is both safe and flexible. Some development of robot hands using pneumatic actuators has already taken place. But, until now, when a pneumatic actuator is used, a big compressor is needed. So, the driving system also needs to be big; enlargement of the driving system is a major problem. Consequently, in this research, we develop a low-pressure, low-volume pneumatic actuator for driving a robot hand that works flexibly and safely on the assumption that it will be in contact with people. We develop a five-fingered robot hand with pneumatic actuators. And, we construct a master-slave system to enable the robot hand to perform the same operations as a human hand. We make a 1-link arm that has one degree of freedom using a pneumatic actuator, and construct a control system for the 1-link arm and verify its control performance.

Robotic surgery: current perceptions and the clinical evidence.

PubMed

Ahmad, Arif; Ahmad, Zoha F; Carleton, Jared D; Agarwala, Ashish

2017-01-01

It appears that a discrepancy exists between the perception of robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) and the current clinical evidence regarding robotic-assisted surgery among patients, healthcare providers, and hospital administrators. The purpose of this study was to assess whether or not such a discrepancy exists. We administered survey questionnaires via face-to-face interviews with surgical patients (n = 101), healthcare providers (n = 58), and senior members of hospital administration (n = 6) at a community hospital that performs robotic surgery. The respondents were asked about their perception regarding the infection rate, operative time, operative blood loss, incision size, cost, length of hospital stay (LOS), risk of complications, precision and accuracy, tactile sensation, and technique of robotic-assisted surgery as compared with conventional laparoscopic surgery. We then performed a comprehensive literature review to assess whether or not these perceptions could be corroborated with clinical evidence. The majority of survey respondents perceived RAS as modality to decrease infection rate, increase operative time, decrease operative blood loss, smaller incision size, a shorter LOS, and a lower risk of complications, while increasing the cost. Respondents also believed that robotic surgery provides greater precision, accuracy, and tactile sensation, while improving intra-operative access to organs. A comprehensive literature review found little-to-no clinical evidence that supported the respondent's favorable perceptions of robotic surgery except for the increased costs, and precision and accuracy of the robotic-assisted technique. There is a discrepancy between the perceptions of robotic surgery and the clinical evidence among patients, healthcare providers, and hospital administrators surveyed.

Hazardous materials emergency response mobile robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Henry W. (Inventor); Lloyd, James (Inventor); Alahuzos, George (Inventor)

1992-01-01

A simple or unsophisticated robot incapable of effecting straight-line motion at the end of its arm inserts a key held in its end effector or hand into a door lock with nearly straight-line motion by gently thrusting its back heels downwardly so that it pivots forwardly on its front toes while holding its arm stationary. The relatively slight arc traveled by the robot's hand is compensated by a complaint tool with which the robot hand grips the door key. A visible beam is projected through the axis of the hand or gripper on the robot arm end at an angle to the general direction in which the robot thrusts the gripper forward. As the robot hand approaches a target surface, a video camera on the robot wrist watches the beam spot on the target surface fall from a height proportional to the distance between the robot hand and the target surface until the beam spot is nearly aligned with the top of the robot hand. Holes in the front face of the hand are connected through internal passages inside the arm to an on-board chemical sensor. Full rotation of the hand or gripper about the robot arm's wrist is made possible by slip rings in the wrist which permit passage of the gases taken in through the nose holes in the front of the hand through the wrist regardless of the rotational orientation of the wrist.

Hazardous materials emergency response mobile robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, Henry W. (Inventor); Lloyd, James W. (Inventor); Alahuzos, George A. (Inventor)

1995-01-01

A simple or unsophisticated robot incapable of effecting straight-line motion at the end of its arm is presented. This robot inserts a key held in its end effector or hand into a door lock with nearly straight-line motion by gently thrusting its back heels downwardly so that it pivots forwardly on its front toes while holding its arm stationary. The relatively slight arc traveled by the robot's hand is compensated by a complaint tool with which the robot hand grips the door key. A visible beam is projected through the axis of the hand or gripper on the robot arm end at an angle to the general direction in which the robot thrusts the gripper forward. As the robot hand approaches a target surface, a video camera on the robot wrist watches the beam spot on the target surface fall from a height proportional to the distance between the robot hand and the target surface until the beam spot is nearly aligned with the top of the robot hand. Holes in the front face of the hand are connected through internal passages inside the arm to an on-board chemical sensor. Full rotation of the hand or gripper about the robot arm's wrist is made possible by slip rings in the wrist which permit passage of the gases taken in through the nose holes in the front of the hand through the wrist regardless of the rotational orientation of the wrist.

Short-term after-effect of forearm cast removal in children.

PubMed

Katz, Kalman; Weigl, Daniel; Becker, Tal; Attias, Joseph; Bar-On, Elhanan

2011-05-01

To investigate the sensation in the hand after forearm cast removal in children. The study group included 33 consecutive children who were treated nonoperatively for a forearm fracture at our center over a 1-year period. The children were asked to report any sensation in the ipsilateral hand after cast removal, and the findings were analyzed against background and fracture-related data. The patients ranged in age from 6 to 14 years (median 10.00 years). Seventeen had been immobilized in an above-elbow cast and the remainder in a below-elbow cast. All children treated with an above-elbow cast complained that after cast removal, the hand on that side felt limp, and they had to hold it with the contralateral hand. By contrast, only one child treated with a below-elbow cast reported this sensation (p = 0.0001, Fisher exact test). Orthopedic surgeons and rehabilitation unit staff should be aware of the possibility of a very short-term sensation of drooping and weakness of the hand after removal of an above-elbow cast in children and prepare the child and parents accordingly in order to lessen unnecessary anxiety.

Remote vibrotactile noise improves light touch sensation in stroke survivors’ fingertips via stochastic resonance

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background and purpose Stroke rehabilitation does not often integrate both sensory and motor recovery. While subthreshold noise was shown to enhance sensory signal detection at the site of noise application, having a noise-generating device at the fingertip to enhance fingertip sensation and potentially enhance dexterity for stroke survivors is impractical, since the device would interfere with object manipulation. This study determined if remote application of subthreshold vibrotactile noise (away from the fingertips) improves fingertip tactile sensation with potential to enhance dexterity for stroke survivors. Methods Index finger and thumb pad sensation was measured for ten stroke survivors with fingertip sensory deficit using the Semmes-Weinstein Monofilament and Two-Point Discrimination Tests. Sensation scores were measured with noise applied at one of three intensities (40%, 60%, 80% of the sensory threshold) to one of four locations of the paretic upper extremity (dorsal hand proximal to the index finger knuckle, dorsal hand proximal to the thumb knuckle, dorsal wrist, volar wrist) in a random order, as well as without noise at beginning (Pre) and end (Post) of the testing session. Results Vibrotactile noise of all intensities and locations instantaneously and significantly improved Monofilament scores of the index fingertip and thumb tip (p < .01). No significant effect of the noise was seen for the Two-Point Discrimination Test scores. Conclusions Remote application of subthreshold (imperceptible) vibrotactile noise at the wrist and dorsal hand instantaneously improved stroke survivors’ light touch sensation, independent of noise location and intensity. Vibrotactile noise at the wrist and dorsal hand may have enhanced the fingertips’ light touch sensation via stochastic resonance and interneuronal connections. While long-term benefits of noise in stroke patients warrants further investigation, this result demonstrates potential that a wearable device applying vibrotactile noise at the wrist could enhance sensation and grip ability without interfering with object manipulation in everyday tasks. PMID:24112371

Application of dexterous space robotics technology to myoelectric prostheses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hess, Clifford; Li, Larry C. H.; Farry, Kristin A.; Walker, Ian D.

1994-02-01

Future space missions will require robots equipped with highly dexterous robotic hands to perform a variety of tasks. A major technical challenge in making this possible is an improvement in the way these dexterous robotic hands are remotely controlled or teleoperated. NASA is currently investigating the feasibility of using myoelectric signals to teleoperate a dexterous robotic hand. In theory, myoelectric control of robotic hands will require little or no mechanical parts and will greatly reduce the bulk and weight usually found in dexterous robotic hand control devices. An improvement in myoelectric control of multifinger hands will also benefit prosthetics users. Therefore, as an effort to transfer dexterous space robotics technology to prosthetics applications and to benefit from existing myoelectric technology, NASA is collaborating with the Limbs of Love Foundation, the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, and Rice University in developing improved myoelectric control multifinger hands and prostheses. In this paper, we will address the objectives and approaches of this collaborative effort and discuss the technical issues associated with myoelectric control of multifinger hands. We will also report our current progress and discuss plans for future work.

Application of dexterous space robotics technology to myoelectric prostheses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hess, Clifford; Li, Larry C. H.; Farry, Kristin A.; Walker, Ian D.

1994-01-01

Future space missions will require robots equipped with highly dexterous robotic hands to perform a variety of tasks. A major technical challenge in making this possible is an improvement in the way these dexterous robotic hands are remotely controlled or teleoperated. NASA is currently investigating the feasibility of using myoelectric signals to teleoperate a dexterous robotic hand. In theory, myoelectric control of robotic hands will require little or no mechanical parts and will greatly reduce the bulk and weight usually found in dexterous robotic hand control devices. An improvement in myoelectric control of multifinger hands will also benefit prosthetics users. Therefore, as an effort to transfer dexterous space robotics technology to prosthetics applications and to benefit from existing myoelectric technology, NASA is collaborating with the Limbs of Love Foundation, the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, and Rice University in developing improved myoelectric control multifinger hands and prostheses. In this paper, we will address the objectives and approaches of this collaborative effort and discuss the technical issues associated with myoelectric control of multifinger hands. We will also report our current progress and discuss plans for future work.

Mechanisms for employment with robotic extensions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Salisbury, Curt Michael; Dullea, Kevin J.

Technologies pertaining to a robotic hand are described herein. A protection apparatus is positioned in a joint of the robotic hand, where movement of a link about the joint is driven by a motor. The protection apparatus absorbs torque about the joint caused by an external force. At least a portion of the robotic hand can be covered by an anthropomorphic skin. An apparatus suitable for controlling operation of the robotic hand is also described herein.

Temperature perception on the hand during static vs. dynamic contact with a surface

PubMed Central

Green, Barry G.

2010-01-01

Innocuous cooling or heating of the forearm can evoke nociceptive sensations such as burning, stinging, and pricking (‘low-threshold thermal nociception’, LTN) that are inhibited by dynamic contact. The present study investigated whether LTN can also be perceived on the hand, and if so, whether it is normally suppressed by active touching. Innocuous cold (28°, 25° and 18°C) and warm (38°, 40° and 43°C) temperatures were delivered to the distal metacarpal pads and intermediate and distal phalanges of the fingers via a handgrip thermode that subjects either statically held or actively grasped. The same temperatures were delivered to the forearm via another thermode that either rested on the arm or was touched to the arm. Subjects rated the intensity of thermal (warmth, cold) and nociceptive (e.g., burning) sensations and indicated the qualities of sensation experienced. The results showed that LTN can be perceived on the hand, although less frequently and less intensely than on the forearm. Dynamic contact inhibited nociceptive and thermal sensations on the hand, though less strongly than on the forearm. These findings indicate that temperature perception on the hand is attenuated and its quality changed when thermal stimulation is accompanied by dynamic tactile stimulation, as during haptic exploration. PMID:19525547

A neural interface provides long-term stable natural touch perception.

PubMed

Tan, Daniel W; Schiefer, Matthew A; Keith, Michael W; Anderson, James Robert; Tyler, Joyce; Tyler, Dustin J

2014-10-08

Touch perception on the fingers and hand is essential for fine motor control, contributes to our sense of self, allows for effective communication, and aids in our fundamental perception of the world. Despite increasingly sophisticated mechatronics, prosthetic devices still do not directly convey sensation back to their wearers. We show that implanted peripheral nerve interfaces in two human subjects with upper limb amputation provided stable, natural touch sensation in their hands for more than 1 year. Electrical stimulation using implanted peripheral nerve cuff electrodes that did not penetrate the nerve produced touch perceptions at many locations on the phantom hand with repeatable, stable responses in the two subjects for 16 and 24 months. Patterned stimulation intensity produced a sensation that the subjects described as natural and without "tingling," or paresthesia. Different patterns produced different types of sensory perception at the same location on the phantom hand. The two subjects reported tactile perceptions they described as natural tapping, constant pressure, light moving touch, and vibration. Changing average stimulation intensity controlled the size of the percept area; changing stimulation frequency controlled sensation strength. Artificial touch sensation improved the subjects' ability to control grasping strength of the prosthesis and enabled them to better manipulate delicate objects. Thus, electrical stimulation through peripheral nerve electrodes produced long-term sensory restoration after limb loss. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A neural interface provides long-term stable natural touch perception

PubMed Central

Tan, Daniel W.; Schiefer, Matthew A.; Keith, Michael W.; Anderson, James Robert; Tyler, Joyce; Tyler, Dustin J.

2017-01-01

Touch perception on the fingers and hand is essential for fine motor control, contributes to our sense of self, allows for effective communication, and aids in our fundamental perception of the world. Despite increasingly sophisticated mechatronics, prosthetic devices still do not directly convey sensation back to their wearers. We show that implanted peripheral nerve interfaces in two human subjects with upper limb amputation provided stable, natural touch sensation in their hands for more than 1 year. Electrical stimulation using implanted peripheral nerve cuff electrodes that did not penetrate the nerve produced touch perceptions at many locations on the phantom hand with repeatable, stable responses in the two subjects for 16 and 24 months. Patterned stimulation intensity produced a sensation that the subjects described as natural and without “tingling,” or paresthesia. Different patterns produced different types of sensory perception at the same location on the phantom hand. The two subjects reported tactile perceptions they described as natural tapping, constant pressure, light moving touch, and vibration. Changing average stimulation intensity controlled the size of the percept area; changing stimulation frequency controlled sensation strength. Artificial touch sensation improved the subjects’ ability to control grasping strength of the prosthesis and enabled them to better manipulate delicate objects. Thus, electrical stimulation through peripheral nerve electrodes produced long-term sensory restoration after limb loss. PMID:25298320

Myoelectric intuitive control and transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the forearm for vibrotactile sensation feedback applied to a 3D printed prosthetic hand.

PubMed

Germany, Enrique I; Pino, Esteban J; Aqueveque, Pablo E

2016-08-01

This paper presents the development of a myoelectric prosthetic hand based on a 3D printed model. A myoelectric control strategy based on artificial neural networks is implemented on a microcontroller for online position estimation. Position estimation performance achieves a correlation index of 0.78. Also a study involving transcutaneous electrical stimulation was performed to provide tactile feedback. A series of stimulations with controlled parameters were tested on five able-body subjects. A single channel stimulator was used, positioning the electrodes 8 cm on the wrist over the ulnar and median nerve. Controlling stimulation parameters such as intensity, frequency and pulse width, the subjects were capable of distinguishing different sensations over the palm of the hand. Three main sensations where achieved: tickling, pressure and pain. Tickling and pressure were discretized into low, moderate and high according to the magnitude of the feeling. The parameters at which each sensation was obtained are further discussed in this paper.

Design and control of five fingered under-actuated robotic hand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahoo, Biswojit; Parida, Pramod Kumar

2018-04-01

Now a day's research regarding humanoid robots and its application in different fields (industry, household, rehabilitation and exploratory) is going on entire the globe. Among which a challenging topic is to design a dexterous robotic hand which not only can perform as a hand of a robot but also can be used in re habilitation. The basic key concern is a dexterous robot hand which can be able to mimic the function of biological hand to perform different operations. This thesis work is regarding design and control of a under-actuated robotic hand consisting of four under actuated fingers (index finger, middle finger, little finger and ring finger ) , a thumb and a dexterous palm which can copy the motions and grasp type of human hand which having 21degrees of freedom instead of 25Degree Of Freedom.

The da vinci robot system eliminates multispecialty surgical trainees' hand dominance in open and robotic surgical settings.

PubMed

Badalato, Gina M; Shapiro, Edan; Rothberg, Michael B; Bergman, Ari; RoyChoudhury, Arindam; Korets, Ruslan; Patel, Trushar; Badani, Ketan K

2014-01-01

Handedness, or the inherent dominance of one hand's dexterity over the other's, is a factor in open surgery but has an unknown importance in robot-assisted surgery. We sought to examine whether the robotic surgery platform could eliminate the effect of inherent hand preference. Residents from the Urology and Obstetrics/Gynecology departments were enrolled. Ambidextrous and left-handed subjects were excluded. After completing a questionnaire, subjects performed three tasks modified from the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery curriculum. Tasks were performed by hand and then with the da Vinci robotic surgical system (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, California). Participants were randomized to begin with using either the left or the right hand, and then switch. Left:right ratios were calculated from scores based on time to task completion. Linear regression analysis was used to determine the significance of the impact of surgical technique on hand dominance. Ten subjects were enrolled. The mean difference in raw score performance between the right and left hands was 12.5 seconds for open tasks and 8 seconds for robotic tasks (P<.05). Overall left-right ratios were found to be 1.45 versus 1.12 for the open and robot tasks, respectively (P<.05). Handedness significantly differed between robotic and open approaches for raw time scores (P<.0001) and left-right ratio (P=.03) when controlling for the prior tasks completed, starting hand, prior robotic experience, and comfort level. These findings remain to be validated in larger cohorts. The robotic technique reduces hand dominance in surgical trainees across all task domains. This finding contributes to the known advantages of robotic surgery.

Kinematic control of robot with degenerate wrist

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barker, L. K.; Moore, M. C.

1984-01-01

Kinematic resolved rate equations allow an operator with visual feedback to dynamically control a robot hand. When the robot wrist is degenerate, the computed joint angle rates exceed operational limits, and unwanted hand movements can result. The generalized matrix inverse solution can also produce unwanted responses. A method is introduced to control the robot hand in the region of the degenerate robot wrist. The method uses a coordinated movement of the first and third joints of the robot wrist to locate the second wrist joint axis for movement of the robot hand in the commanded direction. The method does not entail infinite joint angle rates.

Robotic hand and fingers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Salisbury, Curt Michael; Dullea, Kevin J.

Technologies pertaining to a robotic hand are described herein. The robotic hand includes one or more fingers releasably attached to a robotic hand frame. The fingers can abduct and adduct as well as flex and tense. The fingers are releasably attached to the frame by magnets that allow for the fingers to detach from the frame when excess force is applied to the fingers.

Reliability of the "Ten Test" for assessment of discriminative sensation in hand trauma.

PubMed

Berger, Michael J; Regan, William R; Seal, Alex; Bristol, Sean G

2016-10-01

"Ten Test" (TT) is a bedside measure of discriminative sensation, whereby the magnitude of abnormal sensation to moving light touch is normalized to an area of normal sensation on an 11-point Likert scale (0-10). The purposes of this study were to determine reliability parameters of the TT in a cohort of patients presenting to a hand trauma clinic with subjectively altered sensation post-injury and to compare the reliability of TT to that of the Weinstein Enhanced Sensory Test (WEST). Study participants (n = 29, mean age = 37 ± 12) comprised patients presenting to an outpatient hand trauma clinic with recent hand trauma and self reported abnormal sensation. Participants underwent TT and WEST by two separate raters on the same day. Interrater reliability, response stability and responsiveness of each test were determined by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC: 2, 1), standard error of measurement (SEM) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and minimal detectable difference score, with 95% CI (MDD95), respectively. The TT displayed excellent interrater reliability (ICC = 0.95, 95% CI 0.89-0.97) compared to good reliability for WEST (ICC = 0.78, 95% CI 0.58-0.89). The range of true scores expected with 95% confidence based on the SEM (i.e. response stability), was ±1.1 for TT and ±1.1 for WEST. MDD95 scores reflecting test responsiveness were 1.5 and 1.6 for TT and WEST, respectively. The TT displayed excellent reliability parameters in this patient population. Reliability parameters were stronger for TT compared to WEST. These results provide support for the use of TT as a component of the sensory exam in hand trauma. Copyright © 2016 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anthropomorphic Robot Hand And Teaching Glove

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engler, Charles D., Jr.

1991-01-01

Robotic forearm-and-hand assembly manipulates objects by performing wrist and hand motions with nearly human grasping ability and dexterity. Imitates hand motions of human operator who controls robot in real time by programming via exoskeletal "teaching glove". Telemanipulator systems based on this robotic-hand concept useful where humanlike dexterity required. Underwater, high-radiation, vacuum, hot, cold, toxic, or inhospitable environments potential application sites. Particularly suited to assisting astronauts on space station in safely executing unexpected tasks requiring greater dexterity than standard gripper.

Remotely controlling of mobile robots using gesture captured by the Kinect and recognized by machine learning method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Roy CHaoming; Jian, Jhih-Wei; Lin, Chih-Chuan; Lai, Chien-Hung; Liu, Cheng-Ting

2013-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to use machine learning method and Kinect and its body sensation technology to design a simple, convenient, yet effective robot remote control system. In this study, a Kinect sensor is used to capture the human body skeleton with depth information, and a gesture training and identification method is designed using the back propagation neural network to remotely command a mobile robot for certain actions via the Bluetooth. The experimental results show that the designed mobile robots remote control system can achieve, on an average, more than 96% of accurate identification of 7 types of gestures and can effectively control a real e-puck robot for the designed commands.

Heuristic control of the Utah/MIT dextrous robot hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bass, Andrew H., Jr.

1987-01-01

Basic hand grips and sensor interactions that a dextrous robot hand will need as part of the operation of an EVA Retriever are analyzed. What is to be done with a dextrous robot hand is examined along with how such a complex machine might be controlled. It was assumed throughout that an anthropomorphic robot hand should perform tasks just as a human would; i.e., the most efficient approach to developing control strategies for the hand would be to model actual hand actions and do the same tasks in the same ways. Therefore, basic hand grips that human hands perform, as well as hand grip action were analyzed. It was also important to examine what is termed sensor fusion. This is the integration of various disparate sensor feedback paths. These feedback paths can be spatially and temporally separated, as well as, of different sensor types. Neural networks are seen as a means of integrating these varied sensor inputs and types. Basic heuristics of hand actions and grips were developed. These heuristics offer promise of control dextrous robot hands in a more natural and efficient way.

[Needling technique of Professor Li Yan-Fang].

PubMed

Li, Li-Jun

2014-01-01

Experiences of needling techniques of Professor LI Ya- fang is introduced in this article. Gentle and superficial insertion is adopted by Professor LI in clinic. Emphases are put on the qi regulation function, needling sensation to the affected region and insertion with both hands, especially the function of the left hand as pressing hand. The gentle and superficial insertion should be done as the follows: hold the needle with the right hand, press gently along the running course of meridians with the left hand to promote qi circulation, hard pressing should be applied at acupoints to disperse the local qi and blood, insert the needle gently and quickly into the subcutaneous region with the right hand, and stop the insertion when patient has the needling sensation. While the fast needling is characterized with shallow insertion and swift manipulation: the left hand of the manipulator should press first along the running course of the meridian, and fix the local skin, hold the needle with the right hand and insert the needle quickly into the acupoint. Withdrawal of the needle should be done immediately after the reinforcing and reducing manipulations. Professor LI is accomplished in qi regulation. It is held by him that regulating qi circulation is essence of acupuncture, letting the patient get the needling sensation is the most important task of needling. Lifting, thrusting and rotation manipulations should be applied to do reinforcing or reducing. The tissue around the tip of the needle should not be too contracted or too relaxed, and the resistance should not be too strong or too weak. The feeling of the insertion hand of the practitioner should not be too smooth or too hesitant. Needle should be inserted into the skin quickly at the moment of hard pressing by the left hand. And then, slow rotation and gentle lifting and thrusting can be applied to promote the needling sensation like electric current pass through and to reach the affected region along the running course of meridians.

Smart Prosthetic Hand Technology - Phase 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-01

identification and estimation, hand motion estimation, intelligent embedded systems and control, robotic hand and biocompatibility and signaling. The...Smart Prosthetics, Bio- Robotics , Intelligent EMG Signal Processing, Embedded Systems and Intelligent Control, Inflammatory Responses of Cells, Toxicity...estimation, intelligent embedded systems and control, robotic hand and biocompatibility and signaling. The developed identification algorithm using a new

Hand gesture guided robot-assisted surgery based on a direct augmented reality interface.

PubMed

Wen, Rong; Tay, Wei-Liang; Nguyen, Binh P; Chng, Chin-Boon; Chui, Chee-Kong

2014-09-01

Radiofrequency (RF) ablation is a good alternative to hepatic resection for treatment of liver tumors. However, accurate needle insertion requires precise hand-eye coordination and is also affected by the difficulty of RF needle navigation. This paper proposes a cooperative surgical robot system, guided by hand gestures and supported by an augmented reality (AR)-based surgical field, for robot-assisted percutaneous treatment. It establishes a robot-assisted natural AR guidance mechanism that incorporates the advantages of the following three aspects: AR visual guidance information, surgeon's experiences and accuracy of robotic surgery. A projector-based AR environment is directly overlaid on a patient to display preoperative and intraoperative information, while a mobile surgical robot system implements specified RF needle insertion plans. Natural hand gestures are used as an intuitive and robust method to interact with both the AR system and surgical robot. The proposed system was evaluated on a mannequin model. Experimental results demonstrated that hand gesture guidance was able to effectively guide the surgical robot, and the robot-assisted implementation was found to improve the accuracy of needle insertion. This human-robot cooperative mechanism is a promising approach for precise transcutaneous ablation therapy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Replicating Human Hand Synergies Onto Robotic Hands: A Review on Software and Hardware Strategies.

PubMed

Salvietti, Gionata

2018-01-01

This review reports the principal solutions proposed in the literature to reduce the complexity of the control and of the design of robotic hands taking inspiration from the organization of the human brain. Several studies in neuroscience concerning the sensorimotor organization of the human hand proved that, despite the complexity of the hand, a few parameters can describe most of the variance in the patterns of configurations and movements. In other words, humans exploit a reduced set of parameters, known in the literature as synergies, to control their hands. In robotics, this dimensionality reduction can be achieved by coupling some of the degrees of freedom (DoFs) of the robotic hand, that results in a reduction of the needed inputs. Such coupling can be obtained at the software level, exploiting mapping algorithm to reproduce human hand organization, and at the hardware level, through either rigid or compliant physical couplings between the joints of the robotic hand. This paper reviews the main solutions proposed for both the approaches.

Research of the master-slave robot surgical system with the function of force feedback.

PubMed

Shi, Yunyong; Zhou, Chaozheng; Xie, Le; Chen, Yongjun; Jiang, Jun; Zhang, Zhenfeng; Deng, Ze

2017-12-01

Surgical robots lack force feedback, which may lead to operation errors. In order to improve surgical outcomes, this research developed a new master-slave surgical robot, which was designed with an integrated force sensor. The new structure designed for the master-slave robot employs a force feedback mechanism. A six-dimensional force sensor was mounted on the tip of the slave robot's actuator. Sliding model control was adopted to control the slave robot. According to the movement of the master system manipulated by the surgeon, the slave's movement and the force feedback function were validated. The motion was completed, the standard deviation was calculated, and the force data were detected. Hence, force feedback was realized in the experiment. The surgical robot can help surgeons to complete trajectory motions with haptic sensation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mapping From an Instrumented Glove to a Robot Hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goza, Michael

2005-01-01

An algorithm has been developed to solve the problem of mapping from (1) a glove instrumented with joint-angle sensors to (2) an anthropomorphic robot hand. Such a mapping is needed to generate control signals to make the robot hand mimic the configuration of the hand of a human attempting to control the robot. The mapping problem is complicated by uncertainties in sensor locations caused by variations in sizes and shapes of hands and variations in the fit of the glove. The present mapping algorithm is robust in the face of these uncertainties, largely because it includes a calibration sub-algorithm that inherently adapts the mapping to the specific hand and glove, without need for measuring the hand and without regard for goodness of fit. The algorithm utilizes a forward-kinematics model of the glove derived from documentation provided by the manufacturer of the glove. In this case, forward-kinematics model signifies a mathematical model of the glove fingertip positions as functions of the sensor readings. More specifically, given the sensor readings, the forward-kinematics model calculates the glove fingertip positions in a Cartesian reference frame nominally attached to the palm. The algorithm also utilizes an inverse-kinematics model of the robot hand. In this case, inverse-kinematics model signifies a mathematical model of the robot finger-joint angles as functions of the robot fingertip positions. Again, more specifically, the inverse-kinematics model calculates the finger-joint commands needed to place the fingertips at specified positions in a Cartesian reference frame that is attached to the palm of the robot hand and that nominally corresponds to the Cartesian reference frame attached to the palm of the glove. Initially, because of the aforementioned uncertainties, the glove fingertip positions calculated by the forwardkinematics model in the glove Cartesian reference frame cannot be expected to match the robot fingertip positions in the robot-hand Cartesian reference frame. A calibration must be performed to make the glove and robot-hand fingertip positions correspond more precisely. The calibration procedure involves a few simple hand poses designed to provide well-defined fingertip positions. One of the poses is a fist. In each of the other poses, a finger touches the thumb. The calibration subalgorithm uses the sensor readings from these poses to modify the kinematical models to make the two sets of fingertip positions agree more closely.

A robotic test of proprioception within the hemiparetic arm post-stroke.

PubMed

Simo, Lucia; Botzer, Lior; Ghez, Claude; Scheidt, Robert A

2014-04-30

Proprioception plays important roles in planning and control of limb posture and movement. The impact of proprioceptive deficits on motor function post-stroke has been difficult to elucidate due to limitations in current tests of arm proprioception. Common clinical tests only provide ordinal assessment of proprioceptive integrity (eg. intact, impaired or absent). We introduce a standardized, quantitative method for evaluating proprioception within the arm on a continuous, ratio scale. We demonstrate the approach, which is based on signal detection theory of sensory psychophysics, in two tasks used to characterize motor function after stroke. Hemiparetic stroke survivors and neurologically intact participants attempted to detect displacement- or force-perturbations robotically applied to their arm in a two-interval, two-alternative forced-choice test. A logistic psychometric function parameterized detection of limb perturbations. The shape of this function is determined by two parameters: one corresponds to a signal detection threshold and the other to variability of responses about that threshold. These two parameters define a space in which proprioceptive sensation post-stroke can be compared to that of neurologically-intact people. We used an auditory tone discrimination task to control for potential comprehension, attention and memory deficits. All but one stroke survivor demonstrated competence in performing two-alternative discrimination in the auditory training test. For the remaining stroke survivors, those with clinically identified proprioceptive deficits in the hemiparetic arm or hand had higher detection thresholds and exhibited greater response variability than individuals without proprioceptive deficits. We then identified a normative parameter space determined by the threshold and response variability data collected from neurologically intact participants. By plotting displacement detection performance within this normative space, stroke survivors with and without intact proprioception could be discriminated on a continuous scale that was sensitive to small performance variations, e.g. practice effects across days. The proposed method uses robotic perturbations similar to those used in ongoing studies of motor function post-stroke. The approach is sensitive to small changes in the proprioceptive detection of hand motions. We expect this new robotic assessment will empower future studies to characterize how proprioceptive deficits compromise limb posture and movement control in stroke survivors.

Moment of Inertia: Psychophysical Study of an Overlooked Sensation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Science, 1979

1979-01-01

This article describes the distribution of mass in a hand-held object as a fundamental but unrecognized contributor to the sensation one receives from the object. Experiments producing fractions for human sensitivity are given. (SA)

Development and assessment of a hand assist device: GRIPIT.

PubMed

Kim, Byungchul; In, Hyunki; Lee, Dae-Young; Cho, Kyu-Jin

2017-02-21

Although various hand assist devices have been commercialized for people with paralysis, they are somewhat limited in terms of tool fixation and device attachment method. Hand exoskeleton robots allow users to grasp a wider range of tools but are heavy, complicated, and bulky owing to the presence of numerous actuators and controllers. The GRIPIT hand assist device overcomes the limitations of both conventional devices and exoskeleton robots by providing improved tool fixation and device attachment in a lightweight and compact device. GRIPIT has been designed to assist tripod grasp for people with spinal cord injury because this grasp posture is frequently used in school and offices for such activities as writing and grasping small objects. The main development objective of GRIPIT is to assist users to grasp tools with their own hand using a lightweight, compact assistive device that is manually operated via a single wire. GRIPIT consists of only a glove, a wire, and a small structure that maintains tendon tension to permit a stable grasp. The tendon routing points are designed to apply force to the thumb, index finger, and middle finger to form a tripod grasp. A tension-maintenance structure sustains the grasp posture with appropriate tension. Following device development, four people with spinal cord injury were recruited to verify the writing performance of GRIPIT compared to the performance of a conventional penholder and handwriting. Writing was chosen as the assessment task because it requires a tripod grasp, which is one of the main performance objectives of GRIPIT. New assessment, which includes six different writing tasks, was devised to measure writing ability from various viewpoints including both qualitative and quantitative methods, while most conventional assessments include only qualitative methods or simple time measuring assessments. Appearance, portability, difficulty of wearing, difficulty of grasping the subject, writing sensation, fatigability, and legibility were measured to assess qualitative performance while writing various words and sentences. Results showed that GRIPIT is relatively complicated to wear and use compared to a conventional assist device but has advantages for writing sensation, fatigability, and legibility because it affords sufficient grasp force during writing. Two quantitative performance factors were assessed, accuracy of writing and solidity of writing. To assess accuracy of writing, we asked subjects to draw various figures under given conditions. To assess solidity of writing, pen tip force and the angle variation of the pen were measured. Quantitative evaluation results showed that GRIPIT helps users to write accurately without pen shakes even high force is applied on the pen. Qualitative and quantitative results were better when subjects used GRIPIT than when they used the conventional penholder, mainly because GRIPIT allowed them to exert a higher grasp force. Grasp force is important because disabled people cannot control their fingers and thus need to move their entire arm to write, while non-disabled people only need to move their fingers to write. The tension-maintenance structure developed for GRIPIT provides appropriate grasp force and moment balance on the user's hand, but the other writing method only fixes the pen using friction force or requires the user's arm to generate a grasp force.

The Importance of Visual Feedback Design in BCIs; from Embodiment to Motor Imagery Learning

PubMed Central

Alimardani, Maryam; Nishio, Shuichi; Ishiguro, Hiroshi

2016-01-01

Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) have been developed and implemented in many areas as a new communication channel between the human brain and external devices. Despite their rapid growth and broad popularity, the inaccurate performance and cost of user-training are yet the main issues that prevent their application out of the research and clinical environment. We previously introduced a BCI system for the control of a very humanlike android that could raise a sense of embodiment and agency in the operators only by imagining a movement (motor imagery) and watching the robot perform it. Also using the same setup, we further discovered that the positive bias of subjects’ performance both increased their sensation of embodiment and improved their motor imagery skills in a short period. In this work, we studied the shared mechanism between the experience of embodiment and motor imagery. We compared the trend of motor imagery learning when two groups of subjects BCI-operated different looking robots, a very humanlike android’s hands and a pair of metallic gripper. Although our experiments did not show a significant change of learning between the two groups immediately during one session, the android group revealed better motor imagery skills in the follow up session when both groups repeated the task using the non-humanlike gripper. This result shows that motor imagery skills learnt during the BCI-operation of humanlike hands are more robust to time and visual feedback changes. We discuss the role of embodiment and mirror neuron system in such outcome and propose the application of androids for efficient BCI training. PMID:27598310

The Importance of Visual Feedback Design in BCIs; from Embodiment to Motor Imagery Learning.

PubMed

Alimardani, Maryam; Nishio, Shuichi; Ishiguro, Hiroshi

2016-01-01

Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) have been developed and implemented in many areas as a new communication channel between the human brain and external devices. Despite their rapid growth and broad popularity, the inaccurate performance and cost of user-training are yet the main issues that prevent their application out of the research and clinical environment. We previously introduced a BCI system for the control of a very humanlike android that could raise a sense of embodiment and agency in the operators only by imagining a movement (motor imagery) and watching the robot perform it. Also using the same setup, we further discovered that the positive bias of subjects' performance both increased their sensation of embodiment and improved their motor imagery skills in a short period. In this work, we studied the shared mechanism between the experience of embodiment and motor imagery. We compared the trend of motor imagery learning when two groups of subjects BCI-operated different looking robots, a very humanlike android's hands and a pair of metallic gripper. Although our experiments did not show a significant change of learning between the two groups immediately during one session, the android group revealed better motor imagery skills in the follow up session when both groups repeated the task using the non-humanlike gripper. This result shows that motor imagery skills learnt during the BCI-operation of humanlike hands are more robust to time and visual feedback changes. We discuss the role of embodiment and mirror neuron system in such outcome and propose the application of androids for efficient BCI training.

Exhaustive geographic search with mobile robots along space-filling curves

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Spires, S.V.; Goldsmith, S.Y.

1998-03-01

Swarms of mobile robots can be tasked with searching a geographic region for targets of interest, such as buried land mines. The authors assume that the individual robots are equipped with sensors tuned to the targets of interest, that these sensors have limited range, and that the robots can communicate with one another to enable cooperation. How can a swarm of cooperating sensate robots efficiently search a given geographic region for targets in the absence of a priori information about the target`s locations? Many of the obvious approaches are inefficient or lack robustness. One efficient approach is to have themore » robots traverse a space-filling curve. For many geographic search applications, this method is energy-frugal, highly robust, and provides guaranteed coverage in a finite time that decreases as the reciprocal of the number of robots sharing the search task. Furthermore, it minimizes the amount of robot-to-robot communication needed for the robots to organize their movements. This report presents some preliminary results from applying the Hilbert space-filling curve to geographic search by mobile robots.« less

3D Printed Robotic Hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pizarro, Yaritzmar Rosario; Schuler, Jason M.; Lippitt, Thomas C.

2013-01-01

Dexterous robotic hands are changing the way robots and humans interact and use common tools. Unfortunately, the complexity of the joints and actuations drive up the manufacturing cost. Some cutting edge and commercially available rapid prototyping machines now have the ability to print multiple materials and even combine these materials in the same job. A 3D model of a robotic hand was designed using Creo Parametric 2.0. Combining "hard" and "soft" materials, the model was printed on the Object Connex350 3D printer with the purpose of resembling as much as possible the human appearance and mobility of a real hand while needing no assembly. After printing the prototype, strings where installed as actuators to test mobility. Based on printing materials, the manufacturing cost of the hand was $167, significantly lower than other robotic hands without the actuators since they have more complex assembly processes.

Phantom somatosensory evoked potentials following selective intraneural electrical stimulation in two amputees.

PubMed

Granata, Giuseppe; Di Iorio, Riccardo; Romanello, Roberto; Iodice, Francesco; Raspopovic, Stanisa; Petrini, Francesco; Strauss, Ivo; Valle, Giacomo; Stieglitz, Thomas; Čvančara, Paul; Andreu, David; Divoux, Jean-Louis; Guiraud, David; Wauters, Loic; Hiairrassary, Arthur; Jensen, Winnie; Micera, Silvestro; Rossini, Paolo Maria

2018-06-01

The aim of the paper is to objectively demonstrate that amputees implanted with intraneural interfaces are truly able to feel a sensation in the phantom hand by recording "phantom" somatosensory evoked potentials from the corresponding brain areas. We implanted four transverse intrafascicular multichannel electrodes, available with percutaneous connections to a multichannel electrical stimulator, in the median and ulnar nerves of two left trans-radial amputees. Two channels of the implants that were able to elicit sensations during intraneural nerve stimulation were chosen, in both patients, for recording somatosensory evoked potentials. We recorded reproducible evoked responses by stimulating the median and the ulnar nerves in both cases. Latencies were in accordance with the arrival of somatosensory information to the primary somatosensory cortex. Our results provide evidence that sensations generated by intraneural stimulation are truly perceived by amputees and located in the phantom hand. Moreover, our results strongly suggest that sensations perceived in different parts of the phantom hand result in different evoked responses. Somatosensory evoked potentials obtained by selective intraneural electrical stimulation in amputee patients are a useful tool to provide an objective demonstration of somatosensory feedback in new generation bidirectional prostheses. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Development and Control of Multi-Degree-of-Freedom Mobile Robot for Acquisition of Road Environmental Modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murata, Naoya; Katsura, Seiichiro

Acquisition of information about the environment around a mobile robot is important for purposes such as controlling the robot from a remote location and in situations such as that when the robot is running autonomously. In many researches, audiovisual information is used. However, acquisition of information about force sensation, which is included in environmental information, has not been well researched. The mobile-hapto, which is a remote control system with force information, has been proposed, but the robot used for the system can acquire only the horizontal component of forces. For this reason, in this research, a three-wheeled mobile robot that consists of seven actuators was developed and its control system was constructed. It can get information on horizontal and vertical forces without using force sensors. By using this robot, detailed information on the forces in the environment can be acquired and the operability of the robot and its capability to adjust to the environment are expected to improve.

Hand-held medical robots.

PubMed

Payne, Christopher J; Yang, Guang-Zhong

2014-08-01

Medical robots have evolved from autonomous systems to tele-operated platforms and mechanically-grounded, cooperatively-controlled robots. Whilst these approaches have seen both commercial and clinical success, uptake of these robots remains moderate because of their high cost, large physical footprint and long setup times. More recently, researchers have moved toward developing hand-held robots that are completely ungrounded and manipulated by surgeons in free space, in a similar manner to how conventional instruments are handled. These devices provide specific functions that assist the surgeon in accomplishing tasks that are otherwise challenging with manual manipulation. Hand-held robots have the advantages of being compact and easily integrated into the normal surgical workflow since there is typically little or no setup time. Hand-held devices can also have a significantly reduced cost to healthcare providers as they do not necessitate the complex, multi degree-of-freedom linkages that grounded robots require. However, the development of such devices is faced with many technical challenges, including miniaturization, cost and sterility, control stability, inertial and gravity compensation and robust instrument tracking. This review presents the emerging technical trends in hand-held medical robots and future development opportunities for promoting their wider clinical uptake.

Advanced dexterous manipulation for IED defeat : report on the feasibility of using the ShadowHand for remote operations.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Robert J.

2011-01-01

Improvised Explosive Device (IED) defeat (IEDD) operations can involve intricate operations that exceed the current capabilities of the grippers on board current bombsquad robots. The Shadow Dexterous Hand from the Shadow Robot Company or 'ShadowHand' for short (www.shadowrobot.com) is the first commercially available robot hand that realistically replicates the motion, degrees-of-freedom and dimensions of a human hand (Figure 1). In this study we evaluate the potential for the ShadowHand to perform potential IED defeat tasks on a mobile platform.

Parameterizations for reducing camera reprojection error for robot-world hand-eye calibration

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Accurate robot-world, hand-eye calibration is crucial to automation tasks. In this paper, we discuss the robot-world, hand-eye calibration problem which has been modeled as the linear relationship AX equals ZB, where X and Z are the unknown calibration matrices composed of rotation and translation ...

Two-Armed, Mobile, Sensate Research Robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engelberger, J. F.; Roberts, W. Nelson; Ryan, David J.; Silverthorne, Andrew

2004-01-01

The Anthropomorphic Robotic Testbed (ART) is an experimental prototype of a partly anthropomorphic, humanoid-size, mobile robot. The basic ART design concept provides for a combination of two-armed coordination, tactility, stereoscopic vision, mobility with navigation and avoidance of obstacles, and natural-language communication, so that the ART could emulate humans in many activities. The ART could be developed into a variety of highly capable robotic assistants for general or specific applications. There is especially great potential for the development of ART-based robots as substitutes for live-in health-care aides for home-bound persons who are aged, infirm, or physically handicapped; these robots could greatly reduce the cost of home health care and extend the term of independent living. The ART is a fully autonomous and untethered system. It includes a mobile base on which is mounted an extensible torso topped by a head, shoulders, and two arms. All subsystems of the ART are powered by a rechargeable, removable battery pack. The mobile base is a differentially- driven, nonholonomic vehicle capable of a speed >1 m/s and can handle a payload >100 kg. The base can be controlled manually, in forward/backward and/or simultaneous rotational motion, by use of a joystick. Alternatively, the motion of the base can be controlled autonomously by an onboard navigational computer. By retraction or extension of the torso, the head height of the ART can be adjusted from 5 ft (1.5 m) to 6 1/2 ft (2 m), so that the arms can reach either the floor or high shelves, or some ceilings. The arms are symmetrical. Each arm (including the wrist) has a total of six rotary axes like those of the human shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. The arms are actuated by electric motors in combination with brakes and gas-spring assists on the shoulder and elbow joints. The arms are operated under closed-loop digital control. A receptacle for an end effector is mounted on the tip of the wrist and contains a force-and-torque sensor that provides feedback for force (compliance) control of the arm. The end effector could be a tool or a robot hand, depending on the application.

A three-finger multisensory hand for dexterous space robotic tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murase, Yuichi; Komada, Satoru; Uchiyama, Takashi; Machida, Kazuo; Akita, Kenzo

1994-01-01

The National Space Development Agency of Japan will launch ETS-7 in 1997, as a test bed for next generation space technology of RV&D and space robot. MITI has been developing a three-finger multisensory hand for complex space robotic tasks. The hand can be operated under remote control or autonomously. This paper describes the design and development of the hand and the performance of a breadboard model.

Dextrous robot hands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Venkataraman, Subramanian T. (Editor); Iberall, Thea (Editor)

1990-01-01

Recent studies of human hand function and their implications for the design of robot hands are discussed in reviews and reports. Topics addressed include human grasp choice and robotic grasp analysis, opposition space and human prehension, coordination in normal and prosthetic reaching, and intelligent exploration by the human hand. Consideration is given to a task-oriented dextrous manipulation architecture, the control architecture for the Belgrade/USC hand, the analysis of multifingered grasping and manipulation, and tactile sensing for shape interpretation. Diagrams, graphs, and photographs are provided.

Robot-assisted laparoscopic intracorporeal hand-sewn bowel anastomosis during pediatric bladder reconstructive surgery.

PubMed

Gundeti, Mohan S; Wiltz, Aimee L; Zagaja, Gregory P; Shalhav, Arieh L

2010-08-01

Bowel anastomosis performed during robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery in both adult and pediatric populations has typically been performed using endoscopic staplers or with exteriorization of the bowel. In the pediatric population, no articles have been published that explore the possibility of a completely intracorporeal hand-sewn anastomosis during robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. We report our series of six children who were undergoing robot-assisted laparoscopic intracorporeal hand-sewn bowel anastomosis during bladder reconstructive surgery for neurogenic bladder. The postoperative course was uncomplicated with regard to the bowel anastomosis, demonstrating the feasibility of the technique in experienced hands.

Training industrial robots with gesture recognition techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piane, Jennifer; Raicu, Daniela; Furst, Jacob

2013-01-01

In this paper we propose to use gesture recognition approaches to track a human hand in 3D space and, without the use of special clothing or markers, be able to accurately generate code for training an industrial robot to perform the same motion. The proposed hand tracking component includes three methods: a color-thresholding model, naïve Bayes analysis and Support Vector Machine (SVM) to detect the human hand. Next, it performs stereo matching on the region where the hand was detected to find relative 3D coordinates. The list of coordinates returned is expectedly noisy due to the way the human hand can alter its apparent shape while moving, the inconsistencies in human motion and detection failures in the cluttered environment. Therefore, the system analyzes the list of coordinates to determine a path for the robot to move, by smoothing the data to reduce noise and looking for significant points used to determine the path the robot will ultimately take. The proposed system was applied to pairs of videos recording the motion of a human hand in a „real‟ environment to move the end-affector of a SCARA robot along the same path as the hand of the person in the video. The correctness of the robot motion was determined by observers indicating that motion of the robot appeared to match the motion of the video.

Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands

PubMed Central

Santello, Marco; Bianchi, Matteo; Gabiccini, Marco; Ricciardi, Emiliano; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Ernst, Marc; Moscatelli, Alessandro; Jörntell, Henrik; Kappers, Astrid M.L.; Kyriakopoulos, Kostas; Albu-Schäffer, Alin; Castellini, Claudio; Bicchi, Antonio

2017-01-01

The term ‘synergy’ – from the Greek synergia – means ‘working together’. The concept of multiple elements working together towards a common goal has been extensively used in neuroscience to develop theoretical frameworks, experimental approaches, and analytical techniques to understand neural control of movement, and for applications for neuro-rehabilitation. In the past decade, roboticists have successfully applied the framework of synergies to create novel design and control concepts for artificial hands, i.e., robotic hands and prostheses. At the same time, robotic research on the sensorimotor integration underlying the control and sensing of artificial hands has inspired new research approaches in neuroscience, and has provided useful instruments for novel experiments. The ambitious goal of integrating expertise and research approaches in robotics and neuroscience to study the properties and applications of the concept of synergies is generating a number of multidisciplinary cooperative projects, among which the recently finished 4-year European project “The Hand Embodied” (THE). This paper reviews the main insights provided by this framework. Specifically, we provide an overview of neuroscientific bases of hand synergies and introduce how robotics has leveraged the insights from neuroscience for innovative design in hardware and controllers for biomedical engineering applications, including myoelectric hand prostheses, devices for haptics research, and wearable sensing of human hand kinematics. The review also emphasizes how this multidisciplinary collaboration has generated new ways to conceptualize a synergy-based approach for robotics, and provides guidelines and principles for analyzing human behavior and synthesizing artificial robotic systems based on a theory of synergies. PMID:26923030

Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands.

PubMed

Santello, Marco; Bianchi, Matteo; Gabiccini, Marco; Ricciardi, Emiliano; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Ernst, Marc; Moscatelli, Alessandro; Jörntell, Henrik; Kappers, Astrid M L; Kyriakopoulos, Kostas; Albu-Schäffer, Alin; Castellini, Claudio; Bicchi, Antonio

2016-07-01

The term 'synergy' - from the Greek synergia - means 'working together'. The concept of multiple elements working together towards a common goal has been extensively used in neuroscience to develop theoretical frameworks, experimental approaches, and analytical techniques to understand neural control of movement, and for applications for neuro-rehabilitation. In the past decade, roboticists have successfully applied the framework of synergies to create novel design and control concepts for artificial hands, i.e., robotic hands and prostheses. At the same time, robotic research on the sensorimotor integration underlying the control and sensing of artificial hands has inspired new research approaches in neuroscience, and has provided useful instruments for novel experiments. The ambitious goal of integrating expertise and research approaches in robotics and neuroscience to study the properties and applications of the concept of synergies is generating a number of multidisciplinary cooperative projects, among which the recently finished 4-year European project "The Hand Embodied" (THE). This paper reviews the main insights provided by this framework. Specifically, we provide an overview of neuroscientific bases of hand synergies and introduce how robotics has leveraged the insights from neuroscience for innovative design in hardware and controllers for biomedical engineering applications, including myoelectric hand prostheses, devices for haptics research, and wearable sensing of human hand kinematics. The review also emphasizes how this multidisciplinary collaboration has generated new ways to conceptualize a synergy-based approach for robotics, and provides guidelines and principles for analyzing human behavior and synthesizing artificial robotic systems based on a theory of synergies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santello, Marco; Bianchi, Matteo; Gabiccini, Marco; Ricciardi, Emiliano; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Ernst, Marc; Moscatelli, Alessandro; Jörntell, Henrik; Kappers, Astrid M. L.; Kyriakopoulos, Kostas; Albu-Schäffer, Alin; Castellini, Claudio; Bicchi, Antonio

2016-07-01

The term 'synergy' - from the Greek synergia - means 'working together'. The concept of multiple elements working together towards a common goal has been extensively used in neuroscience to develop theoretical frameworks, experimental approaches, and analytical techniques to understand neural control of movement, and for applications for neuro-rehabilitation. In the past decade, roboticists have successfully applied the framework of synergies to create novel design and control concepts for artificial hands, i.e., robotic hands and prostheses. At the same time, robotic research on the sensorimotor integration underlying the control and sensing of artificial hands has inspired new research approaches in neuroscience, and has provided useful instruments for novel experiments. The ambitious goal of integrating expertise and research approaches in robotics and neuroscience to study the properties and applications of the concept of synergies is generating a number of multidisciplinary cooperative projects, among which the recently finished 4-year European project ;The Hand Embodied; (THE). This paper reviews the main insights provided by this framework. Specifically, we provide an overview of neuroscientific bases of hand synergies and introduce how robotics has leveraged the insights from neuroscience for innovative design in hardware and controllers for biomedical engineering applications, including myoelectric hand prostheses, devices for haptics research, and wearable sensing of human hand kinematics. The review also emphasizes how this multidisciplinary collaboration has generated new ways to conceptualize a synergy-based approach for robotics, and provides guidelines and principles for analyzing human behavior and synthesizing artificial robotic systems based on a theory of synergies.

Accelerometry Measuring the Outcome of Robot-Supported Upper Limb Training in Chronic Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Lemmens, Ryanne J. M.; Timmermans, Annick A. A.; Janssen-Potten, Yvonne J. M.; Pulles, Sanne A. N. T. D.; Geers, Richard P. J.; Bakx, Wilbert G. M.; Smeets, Rob J. E. M.; Seelen, Henk A. M.

2014-01-01

Purpose This study aims to assess the extent to which accelerometers can be used to determine the effect of robot-supported task-oriented arm-hand training, relative to task-oriented arm-hand training alone, on the actual amount of arm-hand use of chronic stroke patients in their home situation. Methods This single-blind randomized controlled trial included 16 chronic stroke patients, randomly allocated using blocked randomization (n = 2) to receive task-oriented robot-supported arm-hand training or task-oriented (unsupported) arm-hand training. Training lasted 8 weeks, 4 times/week, 2×30 min/day using the (T-)TOAT ((Technology-supported)-Task-Oriented-Arm-Training) method. The actual amount of arm-hand use, was assessed at baseline, after 8 weeks training and 6 months after training cessation. Duration of use and intensity of use of the affected arm-hand during unimanual and bimanual activities were calculated. Results Duration and intensity of use of the affected arm-hand did not change significantly during and after training, with or without robot-support (i.e. duration of use of unimanual use of the affected arm-hand: median difference of −0.17% in the robot-group and −0.08% in the control group between baseline and after training cessation; intensity of the affected arm-hand: median difference of 3.95% in the robot-group and 3.32% in the control group between baseline and after training cessation). No significant between-group differences were found. Conclusions Accelerometer data did not show significant changes in actual amount of arm-hand use after task-oriented training, with or without robot-support. Next to the amount of use, discrimination between activities performed and information about quality of use of the affected arm-hand are essential to determine actual arm-hand performance. Trial Registration Controlled-trials.com ISRCTN82787126 PMID:24823925

System design of a hand-held mobile robot for craniotomy.

PubMed

Kane, Gavin; Eggers, Georg; Boesecke, Robert; Raczkowsky, Jörg; Wörn, Heinz; Marmulla, Rüdiger; Mühling, Joachim

2009-01-01

This contribution reports the development and initial testing of a Mobile Robot System for Surgical Craniotomy, the Craniostar. A kinematic system based on a unicycle robot is analysed to provide local positioning through two spiked wheels gripping directly onto a patients skull. A control system based on a shared control system between both the Surgeon and Robot is employed in a hand-held design that is tested initially on plastic phantom and swine skulls. Results indicate that the system has substantially lower risk than present robotically assisted craniotomies, and despite being a hand-held mobile robot, the Craniostar is still capable of sub-millimetre accuracy in tracking along a trajectory and thus achieving an accurate transfer of pre-surgical plan to the operating room procedure, without the large impact of current medical robots based on modified industrial robots.

Object Transportation by Two Mobile Robots with Hand Carts

PubMed Central

Hara, Tatsunori

2014-01-01

This paper proposes a methodology by which two small mobile robots can grasp, lift, and transport large objects using hand carts. The specific problems involve generating robot actions and determining the hand cart positions to achieve the stable loading of objects onto the carts. These problems are solved using nonlinear optimization, and we propose an algorithm for generating robot actions. The proposed method was verified through simulations and experiments using actual devices in a real environment. The proposed method could reduce the number of robots required to transport large objects with 50–60%. In addition, we demonstrated the efficacy of this task in real environments where errors occur in robot sensing and movement. PMID:27433499

Object Transportation by Two Mobile Robots with Hand Carts.

PubMed

Sakuyama, Takuya; Figueroa Heredia, Jorge David; Ogata, Taiki; Hara, Tatsunori; Ota, Jun

2014-01-01

This paper proposes a methodology by which two small mobile robots can grasp, lift, and transport large objects using hand carts. The specific problems involve generating robot actions and determining the hand cart positions to achieve the stable loading of objects onto the carts. These problems are solved using nonlinear optimization, and we propose an algorithm for generating robot actions. The proposed method was verified through simulations and experiments using actual devices in a real environment. The proposed method could reduce the number of robots required to transport large objects with 50-60%. In addition, we demonstrated the efficacy of this task in real environments where errors occur in robot sensing and movement.

Solving the robot-world, hand-eye(s) calibration problem with iterative methods

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Robot-world, hand-eye calibration is the problem of determining the transformation between the robot end effector and a camera, as well as the transformation between the robot base and the world coordinate system. This relationship has been modeled as AX = ZB, where X and Z are unknown homogeneous ...

Gesture-Based Robot Control with Variable Autonomy from the JPL Biosleeve

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, Michael T.; Assad, Christopher; Vernacchia, Matthew T.; Fromm, Joshua; Jethani, Henna L.

2013-01-01

This paper presents a new gesture-based human interface for natural robot control. Detailed activity of the user's hand and arm is acquired via a novel device, called the BioSleeve, which packages dry-contact surface electromyography (EMG) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) into a sleeve worn on the forearm. The BioSleeve's accompanying algorithms can reliably decode as many as sixteen discrete hand gestures and estimate the continuous orientation of the forearm. These gestures and positions are mapped to robot commands that, to varying degrees, integrate with the robot's perception of its environment and its ability to complete tasks autonomously. This flexible approach enables, for example, supervisory point-to-goal commands, virtual joystick for guarded teleoperation, and high degree of freedom mimicked manipulation, all from a single device. The BioSleeve is meant for portable field use; unlike other gesture recognition systems, use of the BioSleeve for robot control is invariant to lighting conditions, occlusions, and the human-robot spatial relationship and does not encumber the user's hands. The BioSleeve control approach has been implemented on three robot types, and we present proof-of-principle demonstrations with mobile ground robots, manipulation robots, and prosthetic hands.

Method for neural network control of motion using real-time environmental feedback

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buckley, Theresa M. (Inventor)

1997-01-01

A method of motion control for robotics and other automatically controlled machinery using a neural network controller with real-time environmental feedback. The method is illustrated with a two-finger robotic hand having proximity sensors and force sensors that provide environmental feedback signals. The neural network controller is taught to control the robotic hand through training sets using back- propagation methods. The training sets are created by recording the control signals and the feedback signal as the robotic hand or a simulation of the robotic hand is moved through a representative grasping motion. The data recorded is divided into discrete increments of time and the feedback data is shifted out of phase with the control signal data so that the feedback signal data lag one time increment behind the control signal data. The modified data is presented to the neural network controller as a training set. The time lag introduced into the data allows the neural network controller to account for the temporal component of the robotic motion. Thus trained, the neural network controlled robotic hand is able to grasp a wide variety of different objects by generalizing from the training sets.

High resolution skin-like sensor capable of sensing and visualizing various sensations and three dimensional shape.

PubMed

Xu, Tianbai; Wang, Wenbo; Bian, Xiaolei; Wang, Xiaoxue; Wang, Xiaozhi; Luo, J K; Dong, Shurong

2015-08-13

Human skin contains multiple receptors, and is able to sense various stimuli such as temperature, pressure, force, corrosion etc, and to feel pains and the shape of objects. The development of skin-like sensors capable of sensing these stimuli is of great importance for various applications such as robots, touch detection, temperature monitoring, strain gauges etc. Great efforts have been made to develop high performance skin-like sensors, but they are far from perfect and much inferior to human skin as most of them can only sense one stimulus with focus on pressure (strain) or temperature, and are unable to visualize sensations and shape of objects. Here we report a skin-like sensor which imitates real skin with multiple receptors, and a new concept of pain sensation. The sensor with very high resolution not only has multiple sensations for touch, pressure, temperature, but also is able to sense various pains and reproduce the three dimensional shape of an object in contact.

Sensing And Force-Reflecting Exoskeleton

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eberman, Brian; Fontana, Richard; Marcus, Beth

1993-01-01

Sensing and force-reflecting exoskeleton (SAFiRE) provides control signals to robot hand and force feedback from robot hand to human operator. Operator makes robot hand touch objects gently and manipulates them finely without exerting excessive forces. Device attaches to operator's hand; comfortable and lightweight. Includes finger exoskeleton, cable mechanical transmission, two dc servomotors, partial thumb exoskeleton, harness, amplifier box, two computer circuit boards, and software. Transduces motion of index finger and thumb. Video monitor of associated computer displays image corresponding to motion.

[Optimization of end-tool parameters based on robot hand-eye calibration].

PubMed

Zhang, Lilong; Cao, Tong; Liu, Da

2017-04-01

A new one-time registration method was developed in this research for hand-eye calibration of a surgical robot to simplify the operation process and reduce the preparation time. And a new and practical method is introduced in this research to optimize the end-tool parameters of the surgical robot based on analysis of the error sources in this registration method. In the process with one-time registration method, firstly a marker on the end-tool of the robot was recognized by a fixed binocular camera, and then the orientation and position of the marker were calculated based on the joint parameters of the robot. Secondly the relationship between the camera coordinate system and the robot base coordinate system could be established to complete the hand-eye calibration. Because of manufacturing and assembly errors of robot end-tool, an error equation was established with the transformation matrix between the robot end coordinate system and the robot end-tool coordinate system as the variable. Numerical optimization was employed to optimize end-tool parameters of the robot. The experimental results showed that the one-time registration method could significantly improve the efficiency of the robot hand-eye calibration compared with the existing methods. The parameter optimization method could significantly improve the absolute positioning accuracy of the one-time registration method. The absolute positioning accuracy of the one-time registration method can meet the requirements of the clinical surgery.

Effects of electromyography-driven robot-aided hand training with neuromuscular electrical stimulation on hand control performance after chronic stroke.

PubMed

Rong, Wei; Tong, Kai Yu; Hu, Xiao Ling; Ho, Sze Kit

2015-03-01

An electromyography-driven robot system integrated with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) was developed to investigate its effectiveness on post-stroke rehabilitation. The performance of this system in assisting finger flexion/extension with different assistance combinations was evaluated in five stroke subjects. Then, a pilot study with 20-sessions training was conducted to evaluate the training's effectiveness. The results showed that combined assistance from the NMES-robot could improve finger movement accuracy, encourage muscle activation of the finger muscles and suppress excessive muscular activities in the elbow joint. When assistances from both NMES and the robot were 50% of their maximum assistances, finger-tracking performance had the best results, with the lowest root mean square error, greater range of motion, higher voluntary muscle activations of the finger joints and lower muscle co-contraction in the finger and elbow joints. Upper limb function improved after the 20-session training, indicated by the increased clinical scores of Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Action Research Arm Test and Wolf Motor Function Test. Muscle co-contraction was reduced in the finger and elbow joints reflected by the Modified Ashworth Scale. The findings demonstrated that an electromyography-driven NMES-robot used for chronic stroke improved hand function and tracking performance. Further research is warranted to validate the method on a larger scale. Implications for Rehabilitation The hand robotics and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) techniques are still separate systems in current post-stroke hand rehabilitation. This is the first study to investigate the combined effects of the NMES and robot on hand rehabilitation. The finger tracking performance was improved with the combined assistance from the EMG-driven NMES-robot hand system. The assistance from the robot could improve the finger movement accuracy and the assistance from the NMES could reduce the muscle co-contraction on finger and elbow joints. The upper limb functions were improved on chronic stroke patients after the pilot study of 20-session hand training with the combined assistance from the EMG-driven NMES-robot. The muscle spasticity on finger and elbow joints was reduced after the training.

The cortical activation pattern by a rehabilitation robotic hand: a functional NIRS study

PubMed Central

Chang, Pyung-Hun; Lee, Seung-Hee; Gu, Gwang Min; Lee, Seung-Hyun; Jin, Sang-Hyun; Yeo, Sang Seok; Seo, Jeong Pyo; Jang, Sung Ho

2014-01-01

Introduction: Clarification of the relationship between external stimuli and brain response has been an important topic in neuroscience and brain rehabilitation. In the current study, using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we attempted to investigate cortical activation patterns generated during execution of a rehabilitation robotic hand. Methods: Ten normal subjects were recruited for this study. Passive movements of the right fingers were performed using a rehabilitation robotic hand at a frequency of 0.5 Hz. We measured values of oxy-hemoglobin (HbO), deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR) and total-hemoglobin (HbT) in five regions of interest: the primary sensory-motor cortex (SM1), hand somatotopy of the contralateral SM1, supplementary motor area (SMA), premotor cortex (PMC), and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Results: HbO and HbT values indicated significant activation in the left SM1, left SMA, left PMC, and left PFC during execution of the rehabilitation robotic hand (uncorrected, p < 0.01). By contrast, HbR value indicated significant activation only in the hand somatotopic area of the left SM1 (uncorrected, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Our results appear to indicate that execution of the rehabilitation robotic hand could induce cortical activation. PMID:24570660

Setup of a novel biofeedback prototype for sensorimotor control of the hand and preliminary application in patients with peripheral nerve injuries.

PubMed

Chiu, Haw-Yen; Hsu, Hsiu-Yun; Su, Fong-Chin; Jou, I-Ming; Lin, Cheng-Feng; Kuo, Li-Chieh

2013-02-01

Biofeedback training is widely used for rehabilitative intervention in patients with central or peripheral nervous impairment to train correct movement patterns; however, no biofeedback apparatus is currently available to correct pinch force ratios for patients with sensory deficiencies. A cross-sectional and longitudinal design was used in an observational measurement study for establishing a prototype and to determine the effects of biofeedback intervention, respectively. This study aimed to develop a computerized evaluation and re-education biofeedback (CERB) prototype for application in clinical settings. A CERB prototype was developed integrating pinch apparatus hardware, a biofeedback user-controlled interface, and a data processing/analysis interface to detect momentary pinch performances in 79 people with normal hand sensation. Nine patients with hand sensory impairments were recruited to investigate the effects of training hand function with the CERB prototype. Hand dominance, pinch pattern, and age significantly affected the peak pinch force and force ratio for lifting a 480-g object with a steel surface. In the case of the 79 volunteers with normal hand sensation, hand dominance affected the time lag between peak pinch force and maximum load; however, it was unaffected by pinch pattern or age. Training with the CERB prototype produced significant improvements in force ratio and better performance in the pin insertion subtests, although the results for both 2-point discriminative and Semmes-Weinstein monofilament tests did not change significantly. The intervention findings are preliminary. This study developed a conjunct system suited for evaluating and restoring sensorimotor function for patients with impaired hand sensibility. The results from the participants with normal hand sensation could serve as a reference database for comparison with patients with nerve injuries.

Robotic Assistance by Impedance Compensation for Hand Movements While Manual Welding.

PubMed

Erden, Mustafa Suphi; Billard, Aude

2016-11-01

In this paper, we present a robotic assistance scheme which allows for impedance compensation with stiffness, damping, and mass parameters for hand manipulation tasks and we apply it to manual welding. The impedance compensation does not assume a preprogrammed hand trajectory. Rather, the intention of the human for the hand movement is estimated in real time using a smooth Kalman filter. The movement is restricted by compensatory virtual impedance in the directions perpendicular to the estimated direction of movement. With airbrush painting experiments, we test three sets of values for the impedance parameters as inspired from impedance measurements with manual welding. We apply the best of the tested sets for assistance in manual welding and perform welding experiments with professional and novice welders. We contrast three conditions: 1) welding with the robot's assistance; 2) with the robot when the robot is passive; and 3) welding without the robot. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the assistance through quantitative measures of both task performance and perceived user's satisfaction. The performance of both the novice and professional welders improves significantly with robotic assistance compared to welding with a passive robot. The assessment of user satisfaction shows that all novice and most professional welders appreciate the robotic assistance as it suppresses the tremors in the directions perpendicular to the movement for welding.

Transmission and Reproduction of Force Sensation by Bilateral Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katsura, Seiichiro; Ohnishi, Kouhei

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) which thinks a great deal of patient’s quality of life (QOL) has attracted attention during about ten years. In this paper, it aims at development of the technology for transmitting force sensation required in medical treatment especially through surgical instruments, such as forceps. In bilateral control, it is a problem how master and slave robots realize the law of action and reaction to the environment. Mechanism of contact with environment and bilateral controller based on stiffness are shown. Master arm in contact with human and slave arm in contact with environment are given compliance, and stable contact with environment can be realized. The proposed method is applied to 3-link master-slave manipulators. As a result, transmission and reproduction of force sensation can be realized. The experimental results show viability of the proposed method.

Development of anthropomorphic robotic hand driven by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles for robotic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farag, Mohannad; Zainul Azlan, Norsinnira; Hayyan Alsibai, Mohammed

2018-04-01

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a three-fingered anthropomorphic robotic hand. The fingers are driven by tendons and actuated by human muscle-like actuators known as Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (PAM). The proposed design allows the actuators to be mounted outside the hand where each finger can be driven by one PAM actuator and six indirectly interlinked tendons. With this design, the three-fingered hand has a compact size and a lightweight with a mass of 150.25 grams imitating the human being hand in terms of size and weight. The hand also successfully grasped objects with different shapes and weights up to 500 g. Even though the number of PAM actuators equals the number of Degrees of Freedom (DOF), the design guarantees driving of three joints by only one actuator reducing the number of required actuators from 3 to 1. Therefore, this hand is suitable for researches of robotic applications in terms of design, cost and ability to be equipped with several types of sensors.

Dynamics, control and sensor issues pertinent to robotic hands for the EVA retriever system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mclauchlan, Robert A.

1987-01-01

Basic dynamics, sensor, control, and related artificial intelligence issues pertinent to smart robotic hands for the Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) Retriever system are summarized and discussed. These smart hands are to be used as end effectors on arms attached to manned maneuvering units (MMU). The Retriever robotic systems comprised of MMU, arm and smart hands, are being developed to aid crewmen in the performance of routine EVA tasks including tool and object retrieval. The ultimate goal is to enhance the effectiveness of EVA crewmen.

Measuring empathy for human and robot hand pain using electroencephalography.

PubMed

Suzuki, Yutaka; Galli, Lisa; Ikeda, Ayaka; Itakura, Shoji; Kitazaki, Michiteru

2015-11-03

This study provides the first physiological evidence of humans' ability to empathize with robot pain and highlights the difference in empathy for humans and robots. We performed electroencephalography in 15 healthy adults who observed either human- or robot-hand pictures in painful or non-painful situations such as a finger cut by a knife. We found that the descending phase of the P3 component was larger for the painful stimuli than the non-painful stimuli, regardless of whether the hand belonged to a human or robot. In contrast, the ascending phase of the P3 component at the frontal-central electrodes was increased by painful human stimuli but not painful robot stimuli, though the interaction of ANOVA was not significant, but marginal. These results suggest that we empathize with humanoid robots in late top-down processing similarly to human others. However, the beginning of the top-down process of empathy is weaker for robots than for humans.

A Magnetic Resonance Compatible Soft Wearable Robotic Glove for Hand Rehabilitation and Brain Imaging.

PubMed

Hong Kai Yap; Kamaldin, Nazir; Jeong Hoon Lim; Nasrallah, Fatima A; Goh, James Cho Hong; Chen-Hua Yeow

2017-06-01

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication and evaluation of a soft wearable robotic glove, which can be used with functional Magnetic Resonance imaging (fMRI) during the hand rehabilitation and task specific training. The soft wearable robotic glove, called MR-Glove, consists of two major components: a) a set of soft pneumatic actuators and b) a glove. The soft pneumatic actuators, which are made of silicone elastomers, generate bending motion and actuate finger joints upon pressurization. The device is MR-compatible as it contains no ferromagnetic materials and operates pneumatically. Our results show that the device did not cause artifacts to fMRI images during hand rehabilitation and task-specific exercises. This study demonstrated the possibility of using fMRI and MR-compatible soft wearable robotic device to study brain activities and motor performances during hand rehabilitation, and to unravel the functional effects of rehabilitation robotics on brain stimulation.

Electromyography data for non-invasive naturally-controlled robotic hand prostheses

PubMed Central

Atzori, Manfredo; Gijsberts, Arjan; Castellini, Claudio; Caputo, Barbara; Hager, Anne-Gabrielle Mittaz; Elsig, Simone; Giatsidis, Giorgio; Bassetto, Franco; Müller, Henning

2014-01-01

Recent advances in rehabilitation robotics suggest that it may be possible for hand-amputated subjects to recover at least a significant part of the lost hand functionality. The control of robotic prosthetic hands using non-invasive techniques is still a challenge in real life: myoelectric prostheses give limited control capabilities, the control is often unnatural and must be learned through long training times. Meanwhile, scientific literature results are promising but they are still far from fulfilling real-life needs. This work aims to close this gap by allowing worldwide research groups to develop and test movement recognition and force control algorithms on a benchmark scientific database. The database is targeted at studying the relationship between surface electromyography, hand kinematics and hand forces, with the final goal of developing non-invasive, naturally controlled, robotic hand prostheses. The validation section verifies that the data are similar to data acquired in real-life conditions, and that recognition of different hand tasks by applying state-of-the-art signal features and machine-learning algorithms is possible. PMID:25977804

Tool actuation and force feedback on robot-assisted microsurgery system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Das, Hari (Inventor); Ohm, Tim R. (Inventor); Boswell, Curtis D. (Inventor); Steele, Robert D. (Inventor)

2002-01-01

An input control device with force sensors is configured to sense hand movements of a surgeon performing a robot-assisted microsurgery. The sensed hand movements actuate a mechanically decoupled robot manipulator. A microsurgical manipulator, attached to the robot manipulator, is activated to move small objects and perform microsurgical tasks. A force-feedback element coupled to the robot manipulator and the input control device provides the input control device with an amplified sense of touch in the microsurgical manipulator.

Multi-fingered robotic hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ruoff, Carl F. (Inventor); Salisbury, Kenneth, Jr. (Inventor)

1990-01-01

A robotic hand is presented having a plurality of fingers, each having a plurality of joints pivotally connected one to the other. Actuators are connected at one end to an actuating and control mechanism mounted remotely from the hand and at the other end to the joints of the fingers for manipulating the fingers and passing externally of the robot manipulating arm in between the hand and the actuating and control mechanism. The fingers include pulleys to route the actuators within the fingers. Cable tension sensing structure mounted on a portion of the hand are disclosed, as is covering of the tip of each finger with a resilient and pliable friction enhancing surface.

Biological and bionic hands: natural neural coding and artificial perception.

PubMed

Bensmaia, Sliman J

2015-09-19

The first decade and a half of the twenty-first century brought about two major innovations in neuroprosthetics: the development of anthropomorphic robotic limbs that replicate much of the function of a native human arm and the refinement of algorithms that decode intended movements from brain activity. However, skilled manipulation of objects requires somatosensory feedback, for which vision is a poor substitute. For upper-limb neuroprostheses to be clinically viable, they must therefore provide for the restoration of touch and proprioception. In this review, I discuss efforts to elicit meaningful tactile sensations through stimulation of neurons in somatosensory cortex. I focus on biomimetic approaches to sensory restoration, which leverage our current understanding about how information about grasped objects is encoded in the brain of intact individuals. I argue that not only can sensory neuroscience inform the development of sensory neuroprostheses, but also that the converse is true: stimulating the brain offers an exceptional opportunity to causally interrogate neural circuits and test hypotheses about natural neural coding.

An Interactive Astronaut-Robot System with Gesture Control

PubMed Central

Liu, Jinguo; Luo, Yifan; Ju, Zhaojie

2016-01-01

Human-robot interaction (HRI) plays an important role in future planetary exploration mission, where astronauts with extravehicular activities (EVA) have to communicate with robot assistants by speech-type or gesture-type user interfaces embedded in their space suits. This paper presents an interactive astronaut-robot system integrating a data-glove with a space suit for the astronaut to use hand gestures to control a snake-like robot. Support vector machine (SVM) is employed to recognize hand gestures and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to optimize the parameters of SVM to further improve its recognition accuracy. Various hand gestures from American Sign Language (ASL) have been selected and used to test and validate the performance of the proposed system. PMID:27190503

[Free gracilis muscle flap with plantar intermediate thickness skin graft: case report, review of anatomy and functional reconstruction of the palm].

PubMed

Engelhardt, T O; Rieger, U M; Baltaci, M; Pierer, G; Schwabegger, A H

2011-08-01

Skin and soft-tissue architecture of the palm are unique. Coverage of extensive soft-tissue defects restoring the functional capacity of the palm remains a challenging task. Anatomic restoration with skin from another area is hardly possible. In manual labourers, reconstruction of mechanical soft-tissue stability is required in addition to sensation, range of motion and grip strength. Sensate fasciocutaneous flaps bear disadvantages of tissue mobility, shifting and bulkiness. Published criteria for defect-related flap selection are sparse. Defect analysis (anatomy, units of tactile gnosis, individual parameters) provides information to weigh needs for sensation or tissue stability, influencing selection of most appropriate procedures. We distinguished 4 units: hypothenar (H), thenar (T) and central palm (Z). (Z) consists of a central palmar unit (c') and the distal palm (d'). Individual parameters (age, profession, dominant hand, psychosocial aspects) were also considered. Units (T) and (H), regions of secondary touch, demand protective sensation by applying sensate fasciocutaneous flaps. In labourers tactile gnosis in (Z) is of less, tissue stability of greater value. An extensive palmar defect (9×13 cm, affecting unit (Z), partially affecting units (T) and (H), of the dominant hand) with combined vessel, nerve, tendon injuries (male labourer, 21 years) was covered after defect analysis with a free gracilis muscle flap and a glabrous intermediate (0.5 mm) thickness skin graft from the instep region. 29 months postoperatively anatomic conditions of palmar soft tissue (Vancouver scar scale: 1), high mechanical soft-tissue stability including normal hand function were evident. Semmes Weinstein testing showed positive pressure sensation. Professional reintegration after 5 months was possible. Defect coverage of the palm must not consist of merely providing sensate vascularised tissue. The most appropriate procedure can be derived from careful defect analysis focusing on the affection of units of tactile gnosis to achieve near to anatomic reconstruction. In labourers, patient- and defect-related demands need close correlation with the value of the selected flaps regarding the sensation and mechanical stability to be expected. In selected cases (mechanical irritation, affection of unit (Z), younger age) by combining microvascular muscle flaps with plantar intermediate thickness skin grafts promising functional results with early professional reintegration can be achieved by reconstructing like with like. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Sensing human hand motions for controlling dexterous robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marcus, Beth A.; Churchill, Philip J.; Little, Arthur D.

1988-01-01

The Dexterous Hand Master (DHM) system is designed to control dexterous robot hands such as the UTAH/MIT and Stanford/JPL hands. It is the first commercially available device which makes it possible to accurately and confortably track the complex motion of the human finger joints. The DHM is adaptable to a wide variety of human hand sizes and shapes, throughout their full range of motion.

Access to hands-on mathematics measurement activities using robots controlled via speech generating devices: three case studies.

PubMed

Adams, Kim; Cook, Al

2014-07-01

To examine how using a robot controlled via a speech generating device (SGD) influences the ways students with physical and communication limitations can demonstrate their knowledge in math measurement activities. Three children with severe physical disabilities and complex communication needs used the robot and SGD system to perform four math measurement lessons in comparing, sorting and ordering objects. The performance of the participants was measured and the process of using the system was described in terms of manipulation and communication events. Stakeholder opinions were solicited regarding robot use. Robot use revealed some gaps in the procedural knowledge of the participants. Access to both the robot and SGD was shown to provide several benefits. Stakeholders thought the intervention was important and feasible for a classroom environment. The participants were able to participate actively in the hands-on and communicative measurement activities and thus meet the demands of current math instruction methods. Current mathematics pedagogy encourages doing hands-on activities while communicating about concepts. Adapted Lego robots enabled children with severe physical disabilities to perform hands-on length measurement activities. Controlling the robots from speech generating devices (SGD) enabled the children, who also had complex communication needs, to reflect and report on results during the activities. By using the robots combined with SGDs, children both exhibited their knowledge of and experienced the concepts of mathematical measurements.

An EMG-Controlled Robotic Hand Exoskeleton for Bilateral Rehabilitation.

PubMed

Leonardis, Daniele; Barsotti, Michele; Loconsole, Claudio; Solazzi, Massimiliano; Troncossi, Marco; Mazzotti, Claudio; Castelli, Vincenzo Parenti; Procopio, Caterina; Lamola, Giuseppe; Chisari, Carmelo; Bergamasco, Massimo; Frisoli, Antonio

2015-01-01

This paper presents a novel electromyography (EMG)-driven hand exoskeleton for bilateral rehabilitation of grasping in stroke. The developed hand exoskeleton was designed with two distinctive features: (a) kinematics with intrinsic adaptability to patient's hand size, and (b) free-palm and free-fingertip design, preserving the residual sensory perceptual capability of touch during assistance in grasping of real objects. In the envisaged bilateral training strategy, the patient's non paretic hand acted as guidance for the paretic hand in grasping tasks. Grasping force exerted by the non paretic hand was estimated in real-time from EMG signals, and then replicated as robotic assistance for the paretic hand by means of the hand-exoskeleton. Estimation of the grasping force through EMG allowed to perform rehabilitation exercises with any, non sensorized, graspable objects. This paper presents the system design, development, and experimental evaluation. Experiments were performed within a group of six healthy subjects and two chronic stroke patients, executing robotic-assisted grasping tasks. Results related to performance in estimation and modulation of the robotic assistance, and to the outcomes of the pilot rehabilitation sessions with stroke patients, positively support validity of the proposed approach for application in stroke rehabilitation.

Robotic devices and brain-machine interfaces for hand rehabilitation post-stroke.

PubMed

McConnell, Alistair C; Moioli, Renan C; Brasil, Fabricio L; Vallejo, Marta; Corne, David W; Vargas, Patricia A; Stokes, Adam A

2017-06-28

To review the state of the art of robotic-aided hand physiotherapy for post-stroke rehabilitation, including the use of brain-machine interfaces. Each patient has a unique clinical history and, in response to personalized treatment needs, research into individualized and at-home treatment options has expanded rapidly in recent years. This has resulted in the development of many devices and design strategies for use in stroke rehabilitation. The development progression of robotic-aided hand physiotherapy devices and brain-machine interface systems is outlined, focussing on those with mechanisms and control strategies designed to improve recovery outcomes of the hand post-stroke. A total of 110 commercial and non-commercial hand and wrist devices, spanning the 2 major core designs: end-effector and exoskeleton are reviewed. The growing body of evidence on the efficacy and relevance of incorporating brain-machine interfaces in stroke rehabilitation is summarized. The challenges involved in integrating robotic rehabilitation into the healthcare system are discussed. This review provides novel insights into the use of robotics in physiotherapy practice, and may help system designers to develop new devices.

Evaluation of surgical strategy of conventional vs. percutaneous robot-assisted spinal trans-pedicular instrumentation in spondylodiscitis.

PubMed

Keric, Naureen; Eum, David J; Afghanyar, Feroz; Rachwal-Czyzewicz, Izabela; Renovanz, Mirjam; Conrad, Jens; Wesp, Dominik M A; Kantelhardt, Sven R; Giese, Alf

2017-03-01

Robot-assisted percutaneous insertion of pedicle screws is a recent technique demonstrating high accuracy. The optimal treatment for spondylodiscitis is still a matter of debate. We performed a retrospective cohort study on surgical patients treated with pedicle screw/rod placement alone without the application of intervertebral cages. In this collective, we compare conventional open to a further minimalized percutaneous robot-assisted spinal instrumentation, avoiding a direct contact of implants and infectious focus. 90 records and CT scans of patients treated by dorsal transpedicular instrumentation of the infected segments with and without decompression and antibiotic therapy were analysed for clinical and radiological outcome parameters. 24 patients were treated by free-hand fluoroscopy-guided surgery (121 screws), and 66 patients were treated by percutaneous robot-assisted spinal instrumentation (341 screws). Accurate screw placement was confirmed in 90 % of robot-assisted and 73.5 % of free-hand placed screws. Implant revision due to misplacement was necessary in 4.95 % of the free-hand group compared to 0.58 % in the robot-assisted group. The average intraoperative X-ray exposure per case was 0.94 ± 1.04 min in the free-hand group vs. 0.4 ± 0.16 min in the percutaneous group (p = 0.000). Intraoperative adverse events were observed in 12.5 % of free-hand placed pedicle screws and 6.1 % of robot robot-assisted screws. The mean postoperative hospital stay in the free-hand group was 18.1 ± 12.9 days, and in percutaneous group, 13.8 ± 5.6 days (p = 0.012). This study demonstrates that the robot-guided insertion of pedicle screws is a safe and effective procedure in lumbar and thoracic spondylodiscitis with higher accuracy of implant placement, lower radiation dose, and decreased complication rates. Percutaneous spinal dorsal instrumentation seems to be sufficient to treat lumbar and thoracic spondylodiscitis.

Development of a GA-Fuzzy-Immune PID Controller with Incomplete Derivation for Robot Dexterous Hand

PubMed Central

Liu, Xin-hua; Chen, Xiao-hu; Zheng, Xian-hua; Li, Sheng-peng; Wang, Zhong-bin

2014-01-01

In order to improve the performance of robot dexterous hand, a controller based on GA-fuzzy-immune PID was designed. The control system of a robot dexterous hand and mathematical model of an index finger were presented. Moreover, immune mechanism was applied to the controller design and an improved approach through integration of GA and fuzzy inference was proposed to realize parameters' optimization. Finally, a simulation example was provided and the designed controller was proved ideal. PMID:25097881

Real time gesture based control: A prototype development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhargava, Deepshikha; Solanki, L.; Rai, Satish Kumar

2016-03-01

The computer industry is getting advanced. In a short span of years, industry is growing high with advanced techniques. Robots have been replacing humans, increasing the efficiency, accessibility and accuracy of the system and creating man-machine interaction. Robotic industry is developing many new trends. However, they still need to be controlled by humans itself. This paper presents an approach to control a motor like a robot with hand gestures not by old ways like buttons or physical devices. Controlling robots with hand gestures is very popular now-a-days. Currently, at this level, gesture features are applied for detecting and tracking the hand in real time. A principal component analysis algorithm is being used for identification of a hand gesture by using open CV image processing library. Contours, convex-hull, and convexity defects are the gesture features. PCA is a statistical approach used for reducing the number of variables in hand recognition. While extracting the most relevant information (feature) contained in the images (hand). After detecting and recognizing hand a servo motor is being controlled, which uses hand gesture as an input device (like mouse and keyboard), and reduces human efforts.

Administration for Community Living

MedlinePlus

... has been awarded under the… read more New robotic hand named after Luke Skywalker helps amputee touch ... November 15, 2017 Washington Post (November 15) New robotic hand named after Luke Skywalker helps amputee touch ...

Integration of robotics and neuroscience beyond the hand: What kind of synergies?. Comment on "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by Marco Santello et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

d'Avella, Andrea

2016-07-01

Santello et al. [1] review an impressive amount of work on the control of biological and artificial hands that demonstrates how the concept of synergies can lead to a successful integration of robotics and neuroscience. Is it possible to generalize the same approach to the control of biological and artificial limbs and bodies beyond the hand? The human hand synergies that appear most relevant for robotic hands are those defined at the kinematic level, i.e. postural synergies [2]. Postural synergies capture the geometric relations among the many joints of the hand and allow for a low dimensional characterization and synthesis of the static hand postures involved in grasping and manipulating a large set of objects. However, many other complex motor skills such as walking, reaching, throwing, and catching require controlling multi-articular time-varying trajectories rather than static postures. Dynamic control of biological and artificial limbs and bodies, especially when geometric and inertial parameters are uncertain and the joints are compliant, poses great challenges. What kind of synergies might simplify the dynamic control of motor skills involving upper and lower limbs as well as the whole body?

Does haptic robot-assisted total hip arthroplasty better restore native acetabular and femoral anatomy?

PubMed

Tsai, Tsung-Yuan; Dimitriou, Dimitris; Li, Jing-Sheng; Kwon, Young-Min

2016-06-01

The objective was to evaluate whether total hip arthroplasty (THA) using haptic robot assistance restores hip geometry better than the free-hand technique. Twelve robot-assisted and 14 free-hand unilateral THA patients underwent CT scan for three-dimensional (3D) hip models. The anteversion, inclination and hip joint centre locations of the native and implanted hips in each patient were quantified and compared. Significant increase of combined anteversion by 19.1 ± 11.7° and 23.5 ± 23.6° and decrease of cup inclination by 16.5 ± 6.0° and 10.2 ± 6.8° were observed in the robot-assisted and the free-hand THAs, respectively. Less variation in the difference of the component orientations (max 11.1 vs 18.3°) and the femoral head centre (max 4.5 vs 6.3 mm) were found in the robot-assisted group. This study demonstrated that neither robot-assisted nor free-hand THAs had fully restored native hip geometry. However, the higher precision of the robot-assisted THA suggested that it has potential utility in restoring the native hip geometry. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bio-inspired grasp control in a robotic hand with massive sensorial input.

PubMed

Ascari, Luca; Bertocchi, Ulisse; Corradi, Paolo; Laschi, Cecilia; Dario, Paolo

2009-02-01

The capability of grasping and lifting an object in a suitable, stable and controlled way is an outstanding feature for a robot, and thus far, one of the major problems to be solved in robotics. No robotic tools able to perform an advanced control of the grasp as, for instance, the human hand does, have been demonstrated to date. Due to its capital importance in science and in many applications, namely from biomedics to manufacturing, the issue has been matter of deep scientific investigations in both the field of neurophysiology and robotics. While the former is contributing with a profound understanding of the dynamics of real-time control of the slippage and grasp force in the human hand, the latter tries more and more to reproduce, or take inspiration by, the nature's approach, by means of hardware and software technology. On this regard, one of the major constraints robotics has to overcome is the real-time processing of a large amounts of data generated by the tactile sensors while grasping, which poses serious problems to the available computational power. In this paper a bio-inspired approach to tactile data processing has been followed in order to design and test a hardware-software robotic architecture that works on the parallel processing of a large amount of tactile sensing signals. The working principle of the architecture bases on the cellular nonlinear/neural network (CNN) paradigm, while using both hand shape and spatial-temporal features obtained from an array of microfabricated force sensors, in order to control the sensory-motor coordination of the robotic system. Prototypical grasping tasks were selected to measure the system performances applied to a computer-interfaced robotic hand. Successful grasps of several objects, completely unknown to the robot, e.g. soft and deformable objects like plastic bottles, soft balls, and Japanese tofu, have been demonstrated.

My heart is in my hands: the interoceptive nature of the spontaneous sensations felt on the hands.

PubMed

Michael, George A; Naveteur, Janick; Dupuy, Marie-Agnès; Jacquot, Laurence

2015-05-01

Somatic sensations may arise in the total absence of external stimuli, i.e., spontaneous sensations (SPSs). Because the background of body sensations has been mentioned as a possible contributor to interoceptive functions, such as the perception of the self and the conscious awareness of one's own body, a possible link between SPSs and interoception has been advocated. Yet, no study has provided direct evidence on such a relationship. The aim of the present study was to establish a link between SPSs and interoception. On the basis of the literature, the accuracy of heartbeat perception was taken as an index of general interoception across different bodily modalities. It was found that individuals with good heartbeat perception experienced more numerous and more intense SPSs. Furthermore, taken along with other individual characteristics, heartbeat perception accuracy predicted the perceived intensity of SPSs, their spatial extent, their variety, as well as confidence in their spatial characteristics. However, we also provide evidence that good vs. poor heartbeat perception is not just a matter of degree. We conclude that interoception definitely contributes to the perception of SPSs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Durable Tactile Glove for Human or Robot Hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butzer, Melissa; Diftler, Myron A.; Huber, Eric

2010-01-01

A glove containing force sensors has been built as a prototype of tactile sensor arrays to be worn on human hands and anthropomorphic robot hands. The force sensors of this glove are mounted inside, in protective pockets; as a result of this and other design features, the present glove is more durable than earlier models.

Position calibration of a 3-DOF hand-controller with hybrid structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Chengcheng; Song, Aiguo

2017-09-01

A hand-controller is a human-robot interactive device, which measures the 3-DOF (Degree of Freedom) position of the human hand and sends it as a command to control robot movement. The device also receives 3-DOF force feedback from the robot and applies it to the human hand. Thus, the precision of 3-DOF position measurements is a key performance factor for hand-controllers. However, when using a hybrid type 3-DOF hand controller, various errors occur and are considered originating from machining and assembly variations within the device. This paper presents a calibration method to improve the position tracking accuracy of hybrid type hand-controllers by determining the actual size of the hand-controller parts. By re-measuring and re-calibrating this kind of hand-controller, the actual size of the key parts that cause errors is determined. Modifying the formula parameters with the actual sizes, which are obtained in the calibrating process, improves the end position tracking accuracy of the device.

Evolving locomotion for a 12-DOF quadruped robot in simulated environments.

PubMed

Klaus, Gordon; Glette, Kyrre; Høvin, Mats

2013-05-01

We demonstrate the power of evolutionary robotics (ER) by comparing to a more traditional approach its performance and cost on the task of simulated robot locomotion. A novel quadruped robot is introduced, the legs of which - each having three non-coplanar degrees of freedom - are very maneuverable. Using a simplistic control architecture and a physics simulation of the robot, gaits are designed both by hand and using a highly parallel evolutionary algorithm (EA). It is found that the EA produces, in a small fraction of the time that takes to design by hand, gaits that travel at two to four times the speed of the hand-designed one. The flexibility of this approach is demonstrated by applying it across a range of differently configured simulators. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

“Pulling Telescoped Phantoms Out of the Stump”: Manipulating the Perceived Position of Phantom Limbs Using a Full-Body Illusion

PubMed Central

Schmalzl, Laura; Thomke, Erik; Ragnö, Christina; Nilseryd, Maria; Stockselius, Anita; Ehrsson, H. Henrik

2011-01-01

Most amputees experience phantom limbs, or the sensation that their amputated limb is still attached to the body. Phantom limbs can be perceived in the location previously occupied by the intact limb, or they can gradually retract inside the stump, a phenomenon referred to as “telescoping”.  Telescoping is relevant from a clinical point of view, as it tends to be related to increased levels of phantom pain. In the current study we demonstrate how a full-body illusion can be used to temporarily revoke telescoping sensations in upper limb amputees. During this illusion participants view the body of a mannequin from a first person perspective while being subjected to synchronized visuo-tactile stimulation through stroking, which makes them experience the mannequin’s body as their own. In Experiment 1 we used an intact mannequin, and showed that amputees can experience ownership of an intact body as well as referral of touch from both hands of the mannequin. In Experiment 2 and 3 we used an amputated mannequin, and demonstrated that depending on the spatial location of the strokes applied to the mannequin, participants experienced their phantom hand to either remain telescoped, or to actually be located below the stump. The effects were supported by subjective data from questionnaires, as well as verbal reports of the perceived location of the phantom hand in a visual judgment task. These findings are of particular interest, as they show that the temporary revoking of telescoping sensations does not necessarily have to involve the visualization of an intact hand or illusory movement of the phantom (as in the rubber hand illusion or mirror visual feedback therapy), but that it can also be obtained through mere referral of touch from the stump to the spatial location corresponding to that previously occupied by the intact hand. Moreover, our study also provides preliminary evidence for the fact that these manipulations can have an effect on phantom pain sensations. PMID:22065956

Hand-Eye Calibration in Visually-Guided Robot Grinding.

PubMed

Li, Wen-Long; Xie, He; Zhang, Gang; Yan, Si-Jie; Yin, Zhou-Ping

2016-11-01

Visually-guided robot grinding is a novel and promising automation technique for blade manufacturing. One common problem encountered in robot grinding is hand-eye calibration, which establishes the pose relationship between the end effector (hand) and the scanning sensor (eye). This paper proposes a new calibration approach for robot belt grinding. The main contribution of this paper is its consideration of both joint parameter errors and pose parameter errors in a hand-eye calibration equation. The objective function of the hand-eye calibration is built and solved, from which 30 compensated values (corresponding to 24 joint parameters and six pose parameters) are easily calculated in a closed solution. The proposed approach is economic and simple because only a criterion sphere is used to calculate the calibration parameters, avoiding the need for an expensive and complicated tracking process using a laser tracker. The effectiveness of this method is verified using a calibration experiment and a blade grinding experiment. The code used in this approach is attached in the Appendix.

Two-Thumbed Robot Hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Sukhan

1989-01-01

Robot hand includes thumblike members on left and right sides and fingerlike member at middle. Configuration of digits enables hand to adapt to variously shaped objects, grasp them robustly and reliably, and manipulate them. Reduces complexity of control mechanisms and provides kinesthetic perception of shapes of grasped objects. Mechanical hand with two thumbs and middle finger made from commercially available components. With specially designed dc motors and assemblies of gears, size of hand reduced considerably. Suited to handling objects in industrial tasks.

Clinical effects of using HEXORR (Hand Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot) for movement therapy in stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Godfrey, Sasha Blue; Holley, Rahsaan J; Lum, Peter S

2013-11-01

The goals of this pilot study were to quantify the clinical benefits of using the Hand Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot for hand rehabilitation after stroke and to determine the population best served by this intervention. Nine subjects with chronic stroke (one excluded from analysis) completed 18 sessions of training with the Hand Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot and a preevaluation, a postevaluation, and a 90-day clinical evaluation. Overall, the subjects improved in both range of motion and clinical measures. Compared with the preevaluation, the subjects showed significant improvements in range of motion, grip strength, and the hand component of the Fugl-Meyer (mean changes, 6.60 degrees, 8.84 percentage points, and 1.86 points, respectively). A subgroup of six subjects exhibited lower tone and received a higher dosage of training. These subjects had significant gains in grip strength, the hand component of the Fugl-Meyer, and the Action Research Arm Test (mean changes, 8.42 percentage points, 2.17 points, and 2.33 points, respectively). Future work is needed to better manage higher levels of hypertonia and provide more support to subjects with higher impairment levels; however, the current results support further study into the Hand Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot treatment.

Strategies for providing upper extremity amputees with tactile and hand position feedback--moving closer to the bionic arm.

PubMed

Riso, R R

1999-01-01

A continuing challenge for prostheses developers is to replace the sensory function of the hand. This includes tactile sensitivity such as finger contact, grip force, object slippage, surface texture and temperature, as well as proprioceptive sense. One approach is sensory substitution whereby an intact sensory system such as vision, hearing or cutaneous sensation elsewhere on the body is used as an input channel for information related to the prosthesis. A second technique involves using electrical stimulation to deliver sensor derived information directly to the peripheral afferent nerves within the residual limb. Stimulation of the relevant afferent nerves can ultimately come closest to restoring the original sensory perceptions of the hand, and to this end, researchers have already demonstrated some degree of functionality of the transected sensory nerves in studies with amputee subjects. This paper provides an overview of different types of nerve interface components and the advantages and disadvantages of employing each of them in sensory feedback systems. Issues of sensory perception, neurophysiology and anatomy relevant to hand sensation and function are discussed with respect to the selection of the different types of nerve interfaces. The goal of this paper is to outline what can be accomplished for implementing sensation into artificial arms in the near term by applying what is present or presently attainable technology.

Foot-controlled robotic-enabled endoscope holder for endoscopic sinus surgery: A cadaveric feasibility study.

PubMed

Chan, Jason Y K; Leung, Iris; Navarro-Alarcon, David; Lin, Weiyang; Li, Peng; Lee, Dennis L Y; Liu, Yun-hui; Tong, Michael C F

2016-03-01

To evaluate the feasibility of a unique prototype foot-controlled robotic-enabled endoscope holder (FREE) in functional endoscopic sinus surgery. Cadaveric study. Using human cadavers, we investigated the feasibility, advantages, and disadvantages of the robotic endoscope holder in performing endoscopic sinus surgery with two hands in five cadaver heads, mimicking a single nostril three-handed technique. The FREE robot is relatively easy to use. Setup was quick, taking less than 3 minutes from docking the robot at the head of the bed to visualizing the middle meatus. The unit is also relatively small, takes up little space, and currently has four degrees of freedom. The learning curve for using the foot control was short. The use of both hands was not hindered by the presence of the endoscope in the nasal cavity. The tremor filtration also aided in the smooth movement of the endoscope, with minimal collisions. The FREE endoscope holder in an ex-vivo cadaver test corroborated the feasibility of the robotic prototype, which allows for a two-handed approach to surgery equal to a single nostril three-handed technique without the holder that may reduce operating time. Further studies will be needed to evaluate its safety profile and use in other areas of endoscopic surgery. NA. Laryngoscope, 126:566-569, 2016. © 2015 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Towards a synergy framework across neuroscience and robotics: Lessons learned and open questions. Reply to comments on: "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santello, Marco; Bianchi, Matteo; Gabiccini, Marco; Ricciardi, Emiliano; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Ernst, Marc; Moscatelli, Alessandro; Jorntell, Henrik; Kappers, Astrid M. L.; Kyriakopoulos, Kostas; Schaeffer, Alin Abu; Castellini, Claudio; Bicchi, Antonio

2016-07-01

We would like to thank all commentators for their insightful commentaries. Thanks to their diverse and complementary expertise in neuroscience and robotics, the commentators have provided us with the opportunity to further discuss state-of-the-art and gaps in the integration of neuroscience and robotics reviewed in our article. We organized our reply in two sections that capture the main points of all commentaries [1-9]: (1) Advantages and limitations of the synergy approach in neuroscience and robotics, and (2) Learning and role of sensory feedback in biological and robotics synergies.

Hand Robotics Rehabilitation: Feasibility and Preliminary Results of a Robotic Treatment in Patients with Hemiparesis

PubMed Central

Sale, Patrizio; Lombardi, Valentina; Franceschini, Marco

2012-01-01

Background. No strongly clinical evidence about the use of hand robot-assisted therapy in stroke patients was demonstrated. This preliminary observer study was aimed at evaluating the efficacy of intensive robot-assisted therapy in hand function recovery, in the early phase after a stroke onset. Methods. Seven acute ischemic stroke patients at their first-ever stroke were enrolled. Treatment was performed using Amadeo robotic system (Tyromotion GmbH Graz, Austria). Each participant received, in addition to inpatients standard rehabilitative treatment, 20 sessions of robotic treatment for 4 consecutive weeks (5 days/week). Each session lasted for 40 minutes. The exercises were carried out as follows: passive modality (5 minutes), passive/plus modality (5 minutes), assisted therapy (10 minutes), and balloon (10 minutes). The following impairment and functional evaluations, Fugl-Meyer Scale (FM), Medical Research Council Scale for Muscle Strength (hand flexor and extensor muscles) (MRC), Motricity Index (MI), and modified Ashworth Scale for wrist and hand muscles (AS), were performed at the beginning (T0), after 10 sessions (T1), and at the end of the treatment (T2). The strength hand flexion and extension performed by Robot were assessed at T0 and T2. The Barthel Index and COMP (performance and satisfaction subscale) were assessed at T0 and T2. Results. Clinical improvements were found in all patients. No dropouts were recorded during the treatment and all subjects fulfilled the protocol. Evidence of a significant improvement was demonstrated by the Friedman test for the MRC (P < 0.0123). Evidence of an improvement was demonstrated for AS, FM, and MI. Conclusions. This original rehabilitation treatment could contribute to increase the hand motor recovery in acute stroke patients. The simplicity of the treatment, the lack of side effects, and the first positive results in acute stroke patients support the recommendations to extend the clinical trial of this treatment, in association with physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy. PMID:23320252

Mentoring console improves collaboration and teaching in surgical robotics.

PubMed

Hanly, Eric J; Miller, Brian E; Kumar, Rajesh; Hasser, Christopher J; Coste-Maniere, Eve; Talamini, Mark A; Aurora, Alexander A; Schenkman, Noah S; Marohn, Michael R

2006-10-01

One of the most significant limitations of surgical robots has been their inability to allow multiple surgeons and surgeons-in-training to engage in collaborative control of robotic surgical instruments. We report the initial experience with a novel two-headed da Vinci surgical robot that has two collaborative modes: the "swap" mode allows two surgeons to simultaneously operate and actively swap control of the robot's four arms, and the "nudge" mode allows them to share control of two of the robot's arms. The utility of the mentoring console operating in its two collaborative modes was evaluated through a combination of dry laboratory exercises and animal laboratory surgery. The results from surgeon-resident collaborative performance of complex three-handed surgical tasks were compared to results from single-surgeon and single-resident performance. Statistical significance was determined using Student's t-test. Collaborative surgeon-resident swap control reduced the time to completion of complex three-handed surgical tasks by 25% compared to single-surgeon operation of a four-armed da Vinci (P < 0.01) and by 34% compared to single-resident operation (P < 0.001). While swap mode was found to be most helpful during parts of surgical procedures that require multiple hands (such as isolation and division of vessels), nudge mode was particularly useful for guiding a resident's hands during crucially precise steps of an operation (such as proper placement of stitches). The da Vinci mentoring console greatly facilitates surgeon collaboration during robotic surgery and improves the performance of complex surgical tasks. The mentoring console has the potential to improve resident participation in surgical robotics cases, enhance resident education in surgical training programs engaged in surgical robotics, and improve patient safety during robotic surgery.

Translational control of a graphically simulated robot arm by kinematic rate equations that overcome elbow joint singularity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barker, L. K.; Houck, J. A.; Carzoo, S. W.

1984-01-01

An operator commands a robot hand to move in a certain direction relative to its own axis system by specifying a velocity in that direction. This velocity command is then resolved into individual joint rotational velocities in the robot arm to effect the motion. However, the usual resolved-rate equations become singular when the robot arm is straightened. To overcome this elbow joint singularity, equations were developed which allow continued translational control of the robot hand even though the robot arm is (or is nearly) fully extended. A feature of the equations near full arm extension is that an operator simply extends and retracts the robot arm to reverse the direction of the elbow bend (difficult maneuver for the usual resolved-rate equations). Results show successful movement of a graphically simulated robot arm.

Small Business Innovations (Exoskeletons)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

The Dexterous Hand Master (DHM), a 1989 winner of an R&D 100 Award, is an exoskeleton device for measuring the joints of the human hand with extreme precision. It was originally developed for NASA by Arthur D. Little, and is sold commercially by EXOS, Inc. The DHM is worn on the hand and connected to a computer that records hand motions. The resulting data is transmitted as control signals to robots and other computers, enabling robotic hands to emulate human hand actions. Two additional spinoff products were also inspired by the DHM.

Multiple sensor smart robot hand with force control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Killion, Richard R.; Robinson, Lee R.; Bejczy, Antal

1987-01-01

A smart robot hand developed at JPL for the Protoflight Manipulator Arm (PFMA) is described. The development of this smart hand was based on an integrated design and subsystem architecture by considering mechanism, electronics, sensing, control, display, and operator interface in an integrated design approach. The mechanical details of this smart hand and the overall subsystem are described elsewhere. The sensing and electronics components of the JPL/PFMA smart hand are summarized and it is described in some detail in control capabilities.

Kinematic rate control of simulated robot hand at or near wrist singularity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barker, K.; Houck, J. A.; Carzoo, S. W.

1985-01-01

A robot hand should obey movement commands from an operator on a computer program as closely as possible. However, when two of the three rotational axes of the robot wrist are colinear, the wrist loses a degree of freedom, and the usual resolved rate equations (used to move the hand in response to an operator's inputs) are indeterminant. Furthermore, rate limiting occurs in close vicinity to this singularity. An analysis shows that rate limiting occurs not only in the vicinity of this singularity but also substantially away from it, even when the operator commands rotational rates of the robot hand that are only a small percentage of the operational joint rate limits. Therefore, joint angle rates are scaled when they exceed operational limits in a real time simulation of a robot arm. Simulation results show that a small dead band avoids the wrist singularity in the resolved rate equations but can introduce a high frequency oscillation close to the singularity. However, when a coordinated wrist movement is used in conjunction with the resolved rate equations, the high frequency oscillation disappears.

Hand Gesture Based Wireless Robotic Arm Control for Agricultural Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kannan Megalingam, Rajesh; Bandhyopadhyay, Shiva; Vamsy Vivek, Gedela; Juned Rahi, Muhammad

2017-08-01

One of the major challenges in agriculture is harvesting. It is very hard and sometimes even unsafe for workers to go to each plant and pluck fruits. Robotic systems are increasingly combined with new technologies to automate or semi automate labour intensive work, such as e.g. grape harvesting. In this work we propose a semi-automatic method for aid in harvesting fruits and hence increase productivity per man hour. A robotic arm fixed to a rover roams in the in orchard and the user can control it remotely using the hand glove fixed with various sensors. These sensors can position the robotic arm remotely to harvest the fruits. In this paper we discuss the design of hand glove fixed with various sensors, design of 4 DoF robotic arm and the wireless control interface. In addition the setup of the system and the testing and evaluation under lab conditions are also presented in this paper.

3D Visual Data-Driven Spatiotemporal Deformations for Non-Rigid Object Grasping Using Robot Hands.

PubMed

Mateo, Carlos M; Gil, Pablo; Torres, Fernando

2016-05-05

Sensing techniques are important for solving problems of uncertainty inherent to intelligent grasping tasks. The main goal here is to present a visual sensing system based on range imaging technology for robot manipulation of non-rigid objects. Our proposal provides a suitable visual perception system of complex grasping tasks to support a robot controller when other sensor systems, such as tactile and force, are not able to obtain useful data relevant to the grasping manipulation task. In particular, a new visual approach based on RGBD data was implemented to help a robot controller carry out intelligent manipulation tasks with flexible objects. The proposed method supervises the interaction between the grasped object and the robot hand in order to avoid poor contact between the fingertips and an object when there is neither force nor pressure data. This new approach is also used to measure changes to the shape of an object's surfaces and so allows us to find deformations caused by inappropriate pressure being applied by the hand's fingers. Test was carried out for grasping tasks involving several flexible household objects with a multi-fingered robot hand working in real time. Our approach generates pulses from the deformation detection method and sends an event message to the robot controller when surface deformation is detected. In comparison with other methods, the obtained results reveal that our visual pipeline does not use deformations models of objects and materials, as well as the approach works well both planar and 3D household objects in real time. In addition, our method does not depend on the pose of the robot hand because the location of the reference system is computed from a recognition process of a pattern located place at the robot forearm. The presented experiments demonstrate that the proposed method accomplishes a good monitoring of grasping task with several objects and different grasping configurations in indoor environments.

Robot Would Reconfigure Modular Equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Purves, Lloyd R.

1993-01-01

Special-purpose sets of equipment, packaged in identical modules with identical interconnecting mechanisms, attached to or detached from each other by specially designed robot, according to proposal. Two-arm walking robot connects and disconnects modules, operating either autonomously or under remote supervision. Robot walks along row of connected modules by grasping successive attachment subassemblies in hand-over-hand motion. Intended application for facility or station in outer space; robot reconfiguration scheme makes it unnecessary for astronauts to venture outside spacecraft or space station. Concept proves useful on Earth in assembly, disassembly, or reconfiguration of equipment in such hostile environments as underwater, near active volcanoes, or in industrial process streams.

Human-like Compliance for Dexterous Robot Hands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jau, Bruno M.

1995-01-01

This paper describes the Active Electromechanical Compliance (AEC) system that was developed for the Jau-JPL anthropomorphic robot. The AEC system imitates the functionality of the human muscle's secondary function, which is to control the joint's stiffness: AEC is implemented through servo controlling the joint drive train's stiffness. The control strategy, controlling compliant joints in teleoperation, is described. It enables automatic hybrid position and force control through utilizing sensory feedback from joint and compliance sensors. This compliant control strategy is adaptable for autonomous robot control as well. Active compliance enables dual arm manipulations, human-like soft grasping by the robot hand, and opens the way to many new robotics applications.

Hand Robotic Therapy in Children with Hemiparesis: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Bishop, Lauri; Gordon, Andrew M; Kim, Heakyung

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to understand the impact of training with a hand robotic device on hand paresis and function in a population of children with hemiparesis. Twelve children with hemiparesis (mean age, 9 [SD, 3.64] years) completed participation in this prospective, experimental, pilot study. Participants underwent clinical assessments at baseline and again 6 weeks later with instructions to not initiate new therapies. After these assessments, participants received 6 weeks of training with a hand robotic device, consisting of 1-hour sessions, 3 times weekly. Assessments were repeated on completion of training. Results showed significant improvements after training on the Assisting Hand Assessment (mean difference, 2.0 Assisting Hand Assessment units; P = 0.011) and on the upper-extremity component of the Fugl-Meyer scale (raw score mean difference, 4.334; P = 0.001). No significant improvements between pretest and posttest were noted on the Jebsen-Taylor Test of Hand Function, the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test, or the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory after intervention. Total active mobility of digits and grip strength also failed to demonstrate significant changes after training. Participants tolerated training with the hand robotic device, and significant improvements in bimanual hand use, as well as impairment-based scales, were noted. Improvements were carried over into bimanual skills during play. Complete the self-assessment activity and evaluation online at http://www.physiatry.org/JournalCME CME OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this article, the reader should be able to: (1) Understand key components of neuroplasticity; (2) Discuss the benefits of robotic therapy in the recovery of hand function in pediatric patients with hemiplegia; and (3) Appropriately incorporate robotic therapy into the treatment plan of pediatric patients with hemiplegia. Advanced ACCREDITATION: The Association of Academic Physiatrists is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.The Association of Academic Physiatrists designates this activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

[Robots and intellectual property].

PubMed

Larrieu, Jacques

2013-12-01

This topic is part of the global issue concerning the necessity to adapt intellectual property law to constant changes in technology. The relationship between robots and IP is dual. On one hand, the robots may be regarded as objects of intellectual property. A robot, like any new machine, could qualify for a protection by a patent. A copyright may protect its appearance if it is original. Its memory, like a database, could be covered by a sui generis right. On the other hand, the question of the protection of the outputs of the robot must be raised. The robots, as the physical embodiment of artificial intelligence, are becoming more and more autonomous. Robot-generated works include less and less human inputs. Are these objects created or invented by a robot copyrightable or patentable? To whom the ownership of these IP rights will be allocated? To the person who manufactured the machine ? To the user of the robot? To the robot itself? All these questions are worth discussing.

[Voice and vibration sensations in the speech forming organs: clinical and theoretical aspects of rare symptoms specific for schizophrenia].

PubMed

Vilela, W; Lolas, F; Wolpert, E

1978-01-01

When studying 750 psychiatric in-patients with psychoses of various diagnostic groups, the symptoms of voice sensations and vibration feelings could only be found among patients with paranoid schizophrenia. In addition, these symptoms were located exclusively in body areas that are involved in the peripheral motor production of voice and speech (areas of head, throat, thorax). In 11 of 15 such cases that could be identified, the sensations of voices and vibrations occurred simultaneously and in identical body parts; in the remaining 4 cases only voices without vibration sensations were reported. Therefore these symptoms can be considered as highly specific for schizophrenia. According to the terminology of Bleuler these two symptoms are because of their rareness to be taken as accessoric symptoms; according to the terminology of Kurt Schneider they have the value of first rank symptoms because of their highly diagnostic specifity for schizophrenia. The pathogenesis of these symptoms is on the one hand discussed under the perspective of language development and the changing function of language for behaviour control; on the other hand, the pathogenesis of these symptoms is discussed from the viewpoint of cybernetic, or neurophysiological-neuroanatomical foundation of speech production and speech control. Both models of explanation have in common that the ideational component of speech is noticed as acustic halluzinations and the motor proprioceptive part of speech is noticed as sensation of vibrations, both in a typically schiphrenic manner, i.e. dissociated and ego-alienated.

Finger-Shaped GelForce: Sensor for Measuring Surface Traction Fields for Robotic Hand.

PubMed

Sato, K; Kamiyama, K; Kawakami, N; Tachi, S

2010-01-01

It is believed that the use of haptic sensors to measure the magnitude, direction, and distribution of a force will enable a robotic hand to perform dexterous operations. Therefore, we develop a new type of finger-shaped haptic sensor using GelForce technology. GelForce is a vision-based sensor that can be used to measure the distribution of force vectors, or surface traction fields. The simple structure of the GelForce enables us to develop a compact finger-shaped GelForce for the robotic hand. GelForce that is developed on the basis of an elastic theory can be used to calculate surface traction fields using a conversion equation. However, this conversion equation cannot be analytically solved when the elastic body of the sensor has a complicated shape such as the shape of a finger. Therefore, we propose an observational method and construct a prototype of the finger-shaped GelForce. By using this prototype, we evaluate the basic performance of the finger-shaped GelForce. Then, we conduct a field test by performing grasping operations using a robotic hand. The results of this test show that using the observational method, the finger-shaped GelForce can be successfully used in a robotic hand.

Intelligent, self-contained robotic hand

DOEpatents

Krutik, Vitaliy; Doo, Burt; Townsend, William T.; Hauptman, Traveler; Crowell, Adam; Zenowich, Brian; Lawson, John

2007-01-30

A robotic device has a base and at least one finger having at least two links that are connected in series on rotary joints with at least two degrees of freedom. A brushless motor and an associated controller are located at each joint to produce a rotational movement of a link. Wires for electrical power and communication serially connect the controllers in a distributed control network. A network operating controller coordinates the operation of the network, including power distribution. At least one, but more typically two to five, wires interconnect all the controllers through one or more joints. Motor sensors and external world sensors monitor operating parameters of the robotic hand. The electrical signal output of the sensors can be input anywhere on the distributed control network. V-grooves on the robotic hand locate objects precisely and assist in gripping. The hand is sealed, immersible and has electrical connections through the rotary joints for anodizing in a single dunk without masking. In various forms, this intelligent, self-contained, dexterous hand, or combinations of such hands, can perform a wide variety of object gripping and manipulating tasks, as well as locomotion and combinations of locomotion and gripping.

Robotic Telesurgery Research

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-10-01

Miniature In Vivo Robotic System for the Surgical Treatment of Diverticular Disease Source of Support: National Institute of Health (NIH) Total...completion time   • Suturing   • Gastrotomy   • Partial colon resection   • Completion of a fully closed procedure - the robot was inserted...repositioned over the sigmoid colon in the left pelvis of the swine and was used, with one grasper hand and one cautery hand, to dissect out the mesentery of

Anthropomorphic Telemanipulation System in Terminus Control Mode

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jau, Bruno M.; Lewis, M. Anthony; Bejczy, Antal K.

1994-01-01

This paper describes a prototype anthropomorphic kinesthetic telepresence system that is being developed at JPL. It utilizes dexterous terminus devices in the form of an exoskeleton force-sensing master glove worn by the operator and a replica four finger anthropomorphic slave hand. The newly developed master glove is integrated with our previously developed non-anthropomorphic six degree of freedom (DOF) universal force-reflecting hand controller (FRHC). The mechanical hand and forearm are mounted to an industrial robot (PUMA 560), replacing its standard forearm. The notion of 'terminus control mode' refers to the fact that only the terminus devices (glove and robot hand) are of anthropomorphic nature, and the master and slave arms are non-anthropomorphic. The system is currently being evaluated, focusing on tool handling and astronaut equivalent task executions. The evaluation revealed the system's potential for tool handling but it also became evident that hand tool manipulations and space operations require a dual arm robot. This paper describes the system's principal components, its control and computing architecture, discusses findings of the tool handling evaluation, and explains why common tool handling and EVA space tasks require dual arm robots.

From self-assessment to frustration, a small step toward autonomy in robotic navigation

PubMed Central

Jauffret, Adrien; Cuperlier, Nicolas; Tarroux, Philippe; Gaussier, Philippe

2013-01-01

Autonomy and self-improvement capabilities are still challenging in the fields of robotics and machine learning. Allowing a robot to autonomously navigate in wide and unknown environments not only requires a repertoire of robust strategies to cope with miscellaneous situations, but also needs mechanisms of self-assessment for guiding learning and for monitoring strategies. Monitoring strategies requires feedbacks on the behavior's quality, from a given fitness system in order to take correct decisions. In this work, we focus on how a second-order controller can be used to (1) manage behaviors according to the situation and (2) seek for human interactions to improve skills. Following an incremental and constructivist approach, we present a generic neural architecture, based on an on-line novelty detection algorithm that may be able to self-evaluate any sensory-motor strategies. This architecture learns contingencies between sensations and actions, giving the expected sensation from the previous perception. Prediction error, coming from surprising events, provides a measure of the quality of the underlying sensory-motor contingencies. We show how a simple second-order controller (emotional system) based on the prediction progress allows the system to regulate its behavior to solve complex navigation tasks and also succeeds in asking for help if it detects dead-lock situations. We propose that this model could be a key structure toward self-assessment and autonomy. We made several experiments that can account for such properties for two different strategies (road following and place cells based navigation) in different situations. PMID:24115931

Long-term stability of sensitivity to intracortical microstimulation of somatosensory cortex.

PubMed

Callier, Thierri; Schluter, Erik W; Tabot, Gregg A; Miller, Lee E; Tenore, Francesco V; Bensmaia, Sliman J

2015-10-01

The dexterous manipulation of objects depends heavily on somatosensory signals from the limb. The development of anthropomorphic robotic arms and of algorithms to decode intended movements from neuronal signals has stimulated the need to restore somatosensation for use in upper-limb neuroprostheses. Without touch and proprioception, patients have difficulty controlling prosthetic limbs to a level that justifies the required invasive surgery. Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) through chronically implanted electrode arrays has the potential to provide rich and intuitive sensory feedback. This approach to sensory restoration requires, however, that the evoked sensations remain stable over time. To investigate the stability of ICMS-evoked sensations, we measured the ability of non-human primates to detect ICMS over experimental sessions that spanned years. We found that the performance of the animals remained highly stable over time, even when they were tested with electrodes that had experienced extensive stimulation. Given the stability of the sensations that it evokes, ICMS may thus be a viable approach for sensory restoration.

Long-term stability of sensitivity to intracortical microstimulation of somatosensory cortex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Callier, Thierri; Schluter, Erik W.; Tabot, Gregg A.; Miller, Lee E.; Tenore, Francesco V.; Bensmaia, Sliman J.

2015-10-01

Objective. The dexterous manipulation of objects depends heavily on somatosensory signals from the limb. The development of anthropomorphic robotic arms and of algorithms to decode intended movements from neuronal signals has stimulated the need to restore somatosensation for use in upper-limb neuroprostheses. Without touch and proprioception, patients have difficulty controlling prosthetic limbs to a level that justifies the required invasive surgery. Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) through chronically implanted electrode arrays has the potential to provide rich and intuitive sensory feedback. This approach to sensory restoration requires, however, that the evoked sensations remain stable over time. Approach. To investigate the stability of ICMS-evoked sensations, we measured the ability of non-human primates to detect ICMS over experimental sessions that spanned years. Main results. We found that the performance of the animals remained highly stable over time, even when they were tested with electrodes that had experienced extensive stimulation. Significance. Given the stability of the sensations that it evokes, ICMS may thus be a viable approach for sensory restoration.

Development of Advanced Robotic Hand System for space application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Machida, Kazuo; Akita, Kenzo; Mikami, Tatsuo; Komada, Satoru

1994-01-01

The Advanced Robotic Hand System (ARH) is a precise telerobotics system with a semi dexterous hand for future space application. The ARH will be tested in space as one of the missions of the Engineering Tests Satellite 7 (ETS-7) which will be launched in 1997. The objectives of the ARH development are to evaluate the capability of a possible robot hand for precise and delicate tasks and to validate the related technologies implemented in the system. The ARH is designed to be controlled both from ground as a teleoperation and by locally autonomous control. This paper presents the overall system design and the functional capabilities of the ARH as well as its mission outline as the preliminary design has been completed.

Biosignal-based relaxation evaluation of head-care robot.

PubMed

Ando, Takeshi; Takeda, Maki; Maruyama, Tomomi; Susuki, Yuto; Hirose, Toshinori; Fujioka, Soichiro; Mizuno, Osamu; Yamada, Kenji; Ohno, Yuko; Yukio, Honda

2013-01-01

Such popular head care procedures as shampooing and scalp massages provide physical and mental relaxation. However, they place a big burden such as chapped hands on beauticians and other practitioners. Based on our robot hand technology, we have been developing a head care robot. In this paper, we quantitatively evaluated its relaxation effect using the following biosignals: accelerated plethymography (SDNN, HF/TP, LF/HF), heart rate (HR), blood pressure, salivary amylase (sAA) and peripheral skin temperature (PST). We compared the relaxation of our developed head care robot with the head care provided by nurses. In our experimental result with 54 subjects, the activity of the autonomic nerve system changed before and after head care procedures performed by both a human nurse and our proposed robot. Especially, in the proposed robot, we confirmed significant differences with the procedure performed by our proposed head care robot in five indexes: HF/TP, LF/HF, HR, sAA, and PST. The activity of the sympathetic nerve system decreased, because the values of its indexes significantly decreased: LF/HF, HR, and sAA. On the other hand, the activity of the parasympathetic nerve system increased, because of the increase of its indexes value: HF/TP and PST. Our developed head care robot provided satisfactory relaxation in just five minutes of use.

Study on real-time force feedback for a master-slave interventional surgical robotic system.

PubMed

Guo, Shuxiang; Wang, Yuan; Xiao, Nan; Li, Youxiang; Jiang, Yuhua

2018-04-13

In robot-assisted catheterization, haptic feedback is important, but is currently lacking. In addition, conventional interventional surgical robotic systems typically employ a master-slave architecture with an open-loop force feedback, which results in inaccurate control. We develop herein a novel real-time master-slave (RTMS) interventional surgical robotic system with a closed-loop force feedback that allows a surgeon to sense the true force during remote operation, provide adequate haptic feedback, and improve control accuracy in robot-assisted catheterization. As part of this system, we also design a unique master control handle that measures the true force felt by a surgeon, providing the basis for the closed-loop control of the entire system. We use theoretical and empirical methods to demonstrate that the proposed RTMS system provides a surgeon (using the master control handle) with a more accurate and realistic force sensation, which subsequently improves the precision of the master-slave manipulation. The experimental results show a substantial increase in the control accuracy of the force feedback and an increase in operational efficiency during surgery.

Thoughts and sensations, twin galaxies of the inner space: The propensity to mind-wander relates to spontaneous sensations arising on the hands.

PubMed

Michael, George A; Tapiero, Isabelle; Gálvez-García, Germán; Jacquot, Laurence

2017-10-01

Sensations and thoughts have been described as potentially related to self-awareness. We therefore asked whether sensations that arise in the absence of external triggers, i.e., spontaneous sensations (SPS), which were shown to relate to interoception and perception of the self, vary as a function of the individual propensity to generate spontaneous thoughts, i.e., mind-wandering. The Mind Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) was used as a specific tool to assess the frequency and propensity to mind-wander several weeks before completing an SPS task. Correlational analyses between the MWQ score and SPS showed that greater propensity to mind-wander coincided with widespread perception of SPS, while lesser propensity to mind-wander coincided with more spatially restricted perception of SPS. The results are interpreted in light of the role of spontaneous thoughts and sensations in self-awareness. The potential psychological processes and the way they might regulate the relation between mind-wandering and the perception of SPS are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

TELEsarPHONE: Mutual Telexistence Master-Slave Communication System Based on Retroreflective Projection Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tachi, Susumu; Kawakami, Naoki; Nii, Hideaki; Watanabe, Kouichi; Minamizawa, Kouta

TELEsarPHONE is a conceptual prototype of a mutual telexistence system, designed for face-to-face telecommunication via robots. Because of the development of telexistence technology, we can acquire a feeling that we are present in several actual remote places using remote robots as our surrogates and can work and act freely there. However, people in the place where someone telexists using a robot see only the robot, and they cannot feel the existence of the telexisting person. Mutual telexistence aims to solve this problem so that the existence of a telexisting person (visitor) is apparent to the people in the remote environment by providing mutual sensations of presence. On the basis of the concept of mutual telexistence, we have designed and developed a prototype of a telexistence master-slave system for remote communication by applying retroreflective projection technology. In the TELEsarPHONE system, the face and chest of the slave robot TELESAR II are covered by retroreflective material. To provide the feeling of existence, the real-time image of the visitor is projected onto the robot so that people can see the visitor in real time.

Tele-existence and/or cybernetic interface studies in Japan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tachi, Susumu

1991-01-01

Tele-existence aims at a natural and efficient remote control of robots by providing the operator with a real time sensation of presence. It is an advaced type of teleoperation system which enables a human operator at the controls to perform remote manipulation tasks dexterously with the feeling that he or she exists in one of the remote anthropomorphic robots in the remote environment, e.g., in a hostile environment such as those of nuclear radiation, high temperature, and deep space. In order to study the use of the tele-existence system in the artificially constructed environment, the visual tele-existence simulator has been designed, a pseudo-real-time binocular solid model robot simulator has been made, and its feasibility has been experimentally evaluated. An anthropomorphic robot mechanism with an arm having seven degrees of freedom has been designed and developed as a slave robot for feasibility experiments of teleoperation using the tele-existence method. An impedance controlled active display mechanism and a head mounted display have also been designed and developed as the display subsystem for the master. The robot's structural dimensions are set very close to those of humans.

Learning Semantics of Gestural Instructions for Human-Robot Collaboration

PubMed Central

Shukla, Dadhichi; Erkent, Özgür; Piater, Justus

2018-01-01

Designed to work safely alongside humans, collaborative robots need to be capable partners in human-robot teams. Besides having key capabilities like detecting gestures, recognizing objects, grasping them, and handing them over, these robots need to seamlessly adapt their behavior for efficient human-robot collaboration. In this context we present the fast, supervised Proactive Incremental Learning (PIL) framework for learning associations between human hand gestures and the intended robotic manipulation actions. With the proactive aspect, the robot is competent to predict the human's intent and perform an action without waiting for an instruction. The incremental aspect enables the robot to learn associations on the fly while performing a task. It is a probabilistic, statistically-driven approach. As a proof of concept, we focus on a table assembly task where the robot assists its human partner. We investigate how the accuracy of gesture detection affects the number of interactions required to complete the task. We also conducted a human-robot interaction study with non-roboticist users comparing a proactive with a reactive robot that waits for instructions. PMID:29615888

Learning Semantics of Gestural Instructions for Human-Robot Collaboration.

PubMed

Shukla, Dadhichi; Erkent, Özgür; Piater, Justus

2018-01-01

Designed to work safely alongside humans, collaborative robots need to be capable partners in human-robot teams. Besides having key capabilities like detecting gestures, recognizing objects, grasping them, and handing them over, these robots need to seamlessly adapt their behavior for efficient human-robot collaboration. In this context we present the fast, supervised Proactive Incremental Learning (PIL) framework for learning associations between human hand gestures and the intended robotic manipulation actions. With the proactive aspect, the robot is competent to predict the human's intent and perform an action without waiting for an instruction. The incremental aspect enables the robot to learn associations on the fly while performing a task. It is a probabilistic, statistically-driven approach. As a proof of concept, we focus on a table assembly task where the robot assists its human partner. We investigate how the accuracy of gesture detection affects the number of interactions required to complete the task. We also conducted a human-robot interaction study with non-roboticist users comparing a proactive with a reactive robot that waits for instructions.

Impact of robotic general surgery course on participants' surgical practice.

PubMed

Buchs, Nicolas C; Pugin, François; Volonté, Francesco; Hagen, Monika E; Morel, Philippe

2013-06-01

Courses, including lectures, live surgery, and hands-on session, are part of the recommended curriculum for robotic surgery. However, for general surgery, this approach is poorly reported. The study purpose was to evaluate the impact of robotic general surgery course on the practice of participants. Between 2007 and 2011, 101 participants attended the Geneva International Robotic Surgery Course, held at the University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland. This 2-day course included theory lectures, dry lab, live surgery, and hands-on session on cadavers. After a mean of 30.1 months (range, 2-48), a retrospective review of the participants' surgical practice was performed using online research and surveys. Among the 101 participants, there was a majority of general (58.4 %) and colorectal surgeons (10.9 %). Other specialties included urologists (7.9 %), gynecologists (6.9 %), pediatric surgeons (2 %), surgical oncologists (1 %), engineers (6.9 %), and others (5.9 %). Data were fully recorded in 99 % of cases; 46 % of participants started to perform robotic procedures after the course, whereas only 6.9 % were already familiar with the system before the course. In addition, 53 % of the attendees worked at an institution where a robotic system was already available. All (100 %) of participants who started a robotic program after the course had an available robotic system at their institution. A course that includes lectures, live surgery, and hands-on session with cadavers is an effective educational method for spreading robotic skills. However, this is especially true for participants whose institution already has a robotic system available.

The relationship between human agency and embodiment.

PubMed

Caspar, Emilie A; Cleeremans, Axel; Haggard, Patrick

2015-05-01

Humans regularly feel a sense of agency (SoA) over events where the causal link between action and outcome is extremely indirect. We have investigated how intermediate (here, a robotic hand) events that intervene between action and outcome may alter SoA, using intentional binding measures. The robotic hand either performed the same movement as the participant (active congruent), or performed a similar movement with another finger (active incongruent). Binding was significantly reduced in the active incongruent relative to the active congruent condition, suggesting that altered embodiment influences SoA. However, binding effects were comparable between a condition where the robot hand made a congruent movement, and conditions where no robot hand was involved, suggesting that intermediate and embodied events do not reduce SoA. We suggest that human sense of agency involves both statistical associations between intentions and arbitrary outcomes, and an effector-specific matching of sensorimotor means used to achieve the outcome. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Robotic hand with locking mechanism using TCP muscles for applications in prosthetic hand and humanoids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saharan, Lokesh; Tadesse, Yonas

2016-04-01

This paper presents a biomimetic, lightweight, 3D printed and customizable robotic hand with locking mechanism consisting of Twisted and Coiled Polymer (TCP) muscles based on nylon precursor fibers as artificial muscles. Previously, we have presented a small-sized biomimetic hand using nylon based artificial muscles and fishing line muscles as actuators. The current study focuses on an adult-sized prosthetic hand with improved design and a position/force locking system. Energy efficiency is always a matter of concern to make compact, lightweight, durable and cost effective devices. In natural human hand, if we keep holding objects for long time, we get tired because of continuous use of energy for keeping the fingers in certain positions. Similarly, in prosthetic hands we also need to provide energy continuously to artificial muscles to hold the object for a certain period of time, which is certainly not energy efficient. In this work we, describe the design of the robotic hand and locking mechanism along with the experimental results on the performance of the locking mechanism.

Design and fabrication of robotic gripper for grasping in minimizing contact force

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heidari, Hamidreza; Pouria, Milad Jafary; Sharifi, Shahriar; Karami, Mahmoudreza

2018-03-01

This paper presents a new method to improve the kinematics of robot gripper for grasping in unstructured environments, such as space operations. The robot gripper is inspired from the human hand and kept the hand design close to the structure of human fingers to provide successful grasping capabilities. The main goal is to improve kinematic structure of gripper to increase the grasping capability of large objects, decrease the contact forces and makes a successful grasp of various objects in unstructured environments. This research will describe the development of a self-adaptive and reconfigurable robotic hand for space operations through mechanical compliance which is versatile, robust and easy to control. Our model contains two fingers, two-link and three-link, with combining a kinematic model of thumb index. Moreover, some experimental tests are performed to examine the effectiveness of the hand-made in real, unstructured tasks. The results represent that the successful grasp range is improved about 30% and the contact forces is reduced approximately 10% for a wide range of target object size. According to the obtained results, the proposed approach provides an accommodative kinematic model which makes the better grasping capability by fingers geometries for a robot gripper.

Ground Robotic Hand Applications for the Space Program study (GRASP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grissom, William A.; Rafla, Nader I.

1992-04-01

This document reports on a NASA-STDP effort to address research interests of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) through a study entitled, Ground Robotic-Hand Applications for the Space Program (GRASP). The primary objective of the GRASP study was to identify beneficial applications of specialized end-effectors and robotic hand devices for automating any ground operations which are performed at the Kennedy Space Center. Thus, operations for expendable vehicles, the Space Shuttle and its components, and all payloads were included in the study. Typical benefits of automating operations, or augmenting human operators performing physical tasks, include: reduced costs; enhanced safety and reliability; and reduced processing turnaround time.

Ground Robotic Hand Applications for the Space Program study (GRASP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grissom, William A.; Rafla, Nader I. (Editor)

1992-01-01

This document reports on a NASA-STDP effort to address research interests of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) through a study entitled, Ground Robotic-Hand Applications for the Space Program (GRASP). The primary objective of the GRASP study was to identify beneficial applications of specialized end-effectors and robotic hand devices for automating any ground operations which are performed at the Kennedy Space Center. Thus, operations for expendable vehicles, the Space Shuttle and its components, and all payloads were included in the study. Typical benefits of automating operations, or augmenting human operators performing physical tasks, include: reduced costs; enhanced safety and reliability; and reduced processing turnaround time.

A Bayesian Model of the Uncanny Valley Effect for Explaining the Effects of Therapeutic Robots in Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Ueyama, Yuki

2015-01-01

One of the core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is impaired reciprocal social interaction, especially in processing emotional information. Social robots are used to encourage children with ASD to take the initiative and to interact with the robotic tools to stimulate emotional responses. However, the existing evidence is limited by poor trial designs. The purpose of this study was to provide computational evidence in support of robot-assisted therapy for children with ASD. We thus propose an emotional model of ASD that adapts a Bayesian model of the uncanny valley effect, which holds that a human-looking robot can provoke repulsion and sensations of eeriness. Based on the unique emotional responses of children with ASD to the robots, we postulate that ASD induces a unique emotional response curve, more like a cliff than a valley. Thus, we performed numerical simulations of robot-assisted therapy to evaluate its effects. The results showed that, although a stimulus fell into the uncanny valley in the typical condition, it was effective at avoiding the uncanny cliff in the ASD condition. Consequently, individuals with ASD may find it more comfortable, and may modify their emotional response, if the robots look like deformed humans, even if they appear “creepy” to typical individuals. Therefore, we suggest that our model explains the effects of robot-assisted therapy in children with ASD and that human-looking robots may have potential advantages for improving social interactions in ASD. PMID:26389805

Interactive autonomy and robotic skills

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellner, A.; Maediger, B.

1994-01-01

Current concepts of robot-supported operations for space laboratories (payload servicing, inspection, repair, and ORU exchange) are mainly based on the concept of 'interactive autonomy' which implies autonomous behavior of the robot according to predefined timelines, predefined sequences of elementary robot operations and within predefined world models supplying geometrical and other information for parameter instantiation on the one hand, and the ability to override and change the predefined course of activities by human intervention on the other hand. Although in principle a very powerful and useful concept, in practice the confinement of the robot to the abstract world models and predefined activities appears to reduce the robot's stability within real world uncertainties and its applicability to non-predefined parts of the world, calling for frequent corrective interaction by the operator, which in itself may be tedious and time-consuming. Methods are presented to improve this situation by incorporating 'robotic skills' into the concept of interactive autonomy.

Low-Stroke Actuation for a Serial Robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ihrke, Chris A. (Inventor); Gao, Dalong (Inventor)

2014-01-01

A serial robot includes a base, first and second segments, a proximal joint joining the base to the first segment, and a distal joint. The distal joint that joins the segments is serially arranged and distal with respect to the proximal joint. The robot includes first and second actuators. A first tendon extends from the first actuator to the proximal joint and is selectively moveable via the first actuator. A second tendon extends from the second actuator to the distal joint and is selectively moveable via the second actuator. The robot includes a transmission having at least one gear element which assists rotation of the distal joint when an input force is applied to the proximal and/or distal joints by the first and/or second actuators. A robotic hand having the above robot is also disclosed, as is a robotic system having a torso, arm, and the above-described hand.

Control of robot assistant for rehabilitation of upper extremities.

PubMed

Kostić, Miloš D; Popović, Mirjana B; Popović, Dejan B

2012-01-01

The assisted movement in humans with paresis of upper extremities is becoming popular for neurorehabilitation. We propose a novel method for trajectory selection and assistance control. This paper presents simulation of a planar two degrees of freedom robot that assists horizontal movement of the hand. The control assumes that during the exercise the hand needs to follow healthy alike trajectories. The robot is assumed to provide minimal assistance and operate as a teacher of the movement.

Using arm and hand gestures to command robots during stealth operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoica, Adrian; Assad, Chris; Wolf, Michael; You, Ki Sung; Pavone, Marco; Huntsberger, Terry; Iwashita, Yumi

2012-06-01

Command of support robots by the warfighter requires intuitive interfaces to quickly communicate high degree-offreedom (DOF) information while leaving the hands unencumbered. Stealth operations rule out voice commands and vision-based gesture interpretation techniques, as they often entail silent operations at night or in other low visibility conditions. Targeted at using bio-signal inputs to set navigation and manipulation goals for the robot (say, simply by pointing), we developed a system based on an electromyography (EMG) "BioSleeve", a high density sensor array for robust, practical signal collection from forearm muscles. The EMG sensor array data is fused with inertial measurement unit (IMU) data. This paper describes the BioSleeve system and presents initial results of decoding robot commands from the EMG and IMU data using a BioSleeve prototype with up to sixteen bipolar surface EMG sensors. The BioSleeve is demonstrated on the recognition of static hand positions (e.g. palm facing front, fingers upwards) and on dynamic gestures (e.g. hand wave). In preliminary experiments, over 90% correct recognition was achieved on five static and nine dynamic gestures. We use the BioSleeve to control a team of five LANdroid robots in individual and group/squad behaviors. We define a gesture composition mechanism that allows the specification of complex robot behaviors with only a small vocabulary of gestures/commands, and we illustrate it with a set of complex orders.

Using Arm and Hand Gestures to Command Robots during Stealth Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stoica, Adrian; Assad, Chris; Wolf, Michael; You, Ki Sung; Pavone, Marco; Huntsberger, Terry; Iwashita, Yumi

2012-01-01

Command of support robots by the warfighter requires intuitive interfaces to quickly communicate high degree-of-freedom (DOF) information while leaving the hands unencumbered. Stealth operations rule out voice commands and vision-based gesture interpretation techniques, as they often entail silent operations at night or in other low visibility conditions. Targeted at using bio-signal inputs to set navigation and manipulation goals for the robot (say, simply by pointing), we developed a system based on an electromyography (EMG) "BioSleeve", a high density sensor array for robust, practical signal collection from forearm muscles. The EMG sensor array data is fused with inertial measurement unit (IMU) data. This paper describes the BioSleeve system and presents initial results of decoding robot commands from the EMG and IMU data using a BioSleeve prototype with up to sixteen bipolar surface EMG sensors. The BioSleeve is demonstrated on the recognition of static hand positions (e.g. palm facing front, fingers upwards) and on dynamic gestures (e.g. hand wave). In preliminary experiments, over 90% correct recognition was achieved on five static and nine dynamic gestures. We use the BioSleeve to control a team of five LANdroid robots in individual and group/squad behaviors. We define a gesture composition mechanism that allows the specification of complex robot behaviors with only a small vocabulary of gestures/commands, and we illustrate it with a set of complex orders.

Fine finger motor skill training with exoskeleton robotic hand in chronic stroke: stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Ockenfeld, Corinna; Tong, Raymond K Y; Susanto, Evan A; Ho, Sze-Kit; Hu, Xiao-ling

2013-06-01

Background and Purpose. Stroke survivors often show a limited recovery in the hand function to perform delicate motions, such as full hand grasping, finger pinching and individual finger movement. The purpose of this study is to describe the implementation of an exoskeleton robotic hand together with fine finger motor skill training on 2 chronic stroke patients. Case Descriptions. Two post-stroke patients participated in a 20-session training program by integrating 10 minutes physical therapy, 20 minutes robotic hand training and 15 minutes functional training tasks with delicate objects(card, pen and coin). These two patients (A and B) had cerebrovascular accident at 6 months and 11 months respectively when enrolled in this study. Outcomes. The results showed that both patients had improvements in Fugl-Meyer assessment (FM), Action Research Arm Test (ARAT). Patients had better isolation of the individual finger flexion and extension based on the reduced muscle co-contraction from the electromyographic(EMG) signals and finger extension force after 20 sessions of training. Discussion. This preliminary study showed that by focusing on the fine finger motor skills together with the exoskeleton robotic hand, it could improve the motor recovery of the upper extremity in the fingers and hand function, which were showed in the ARAT. Future randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness.

Control of a Supernumerary Robotic Hand by Foot: An Experimental Study in Virtual Reality

PubMed Central

Abdi, Elahe; Burdet, Etienne; Bouri, Mohamed; Bleuler, Hannes

2015-01-01

In the operational theater, the surgical team could highly benefit from a robotic supplementary hand under the surgeon’s full control. The surgeon may so become more autonomous; this may reduce communication errors with the assistants and take over difficult tasks such as holding tools without tremor. In this paper, we therefore examine the possibility to control a third robotic hand with one foot’s movements. Three experiments in virtual reality were designed to assess the feasibility of this control strategy, the learning curve of the subjects in different tasks and the coordination of foot movements with the two natural hands. Results show that the limbs are moved simultaneously, in parallel rather than serially. Participants’ performance improved within a few minutes of practice without any specific difficulty to complete the tasks. Subjective assessment by the subjects indicated that controlling a third hand by foot has been easy and required only negligible physical and mental efforts. The sense of ownership was reported to improve through the experiments. The mental burden was not directly related to the level of motion required by a task, but depended on the type of activity and practice. The most difficult task was moving two hands and foot in opposite directions. These results suggest that a combination of practice and appropriate tasks can enhance the learning process for controlling a robotic hand by foot. PMID:26225938

The effects of post-stroke upper-limb training with an electromyography (EMG)-driven hand robot.

PubMed

Hu, X L; Tong, K Y; Wei, X J; Rong, W; Susanto, E A; Ho, S K

2013-10-01

Loss of hand function and finger dexterity are main disabilities in the upper limb after stroke. An electromyography (EMG)-driven hand robot had been developed for post-stroke rehabilitation training. The effectiveness of the hand robot assisted whole upper limb training was investigated on persons with chronic stroke (n=10) in this work. All subjects attended a 20-session training (3-5times/week) by using the hand robot to practice object grasp/release and arm transportation tasks. Significant motor improvements were observed in the Fugl-Meyer hand/wrist and shoulder/elbow scores (p<0.05), and also in the Action Research Arm Test and Wolf Motor Function Test (p<0.05). Significant reduction in spasticity of the fingers as was measured by the Modified Ashworth Score (p<0.05). The training improved the muscle co-ordination between the antagonist muscle pair (flexor digitorum (FD) and extensor digitorum (ED)), associated with a significant reduction in the ED EMG level (p<0.05) and a significant decrease of ED and FD co-contraction during the training (p<0.05); the excessive muscle activities in the biceps brachii were also reduced significantly after the training (p<0.05). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Embodied neurofeedback with an anthropomorphic robotic hand

PubMed Central

Braun, Niclas; Emkes, Reiner; Thorne, Jeremy D.; Debener, Stefan

2016-01-01

Neurofeedback-guided motor imagery training (NF-MIT) has been suggested as a promising therapy for stroke-induced motor impairment. Whereas much NF-MIT research has aimed at signal processing optimization, the type of sensory feedback given to the participant has received less attention. Often the feedback signal is highly abstract and not inherently coupled to the mental act performed. In this study, we asked whether an embodied feedback signal is more efficient for neurofeedback operation than a non-embodiable feedback signal. Inspired by the rubber hand illusion, demonstrating that an artificial hand can be incorporated into one’s own body scheme, we used an anthropomorphic robotic hand to visually guide the participants’ motor imagery act and to deliver neurofeedback. Using two experimental manipulations, we investigated how a participant’s neurofeedback performance and subjective experience were influenced by the embodiability of the robotic hand, and by the neurofeedback signal’s validity. As pertains to embodiment, we found a promoting effect of robotic-hand embodiment in subjective, behavioral, electrophysiological and electrodermal measures. Regarding neurofeedback signal validity, we found some differences between real and sham neurofeedback in terms of subjective and electrodermal measures, but not in terms of behavioral and electrophysiological measures. This study motivates the further development of embodied feedback signals for NF-MIT. PMID:27869190

Review of surgical robotics user interface: what is the best way to control robotic surgery?

PubMed

Simorov, Anton; Otte, R Stephen; Kopietz, Courtni M; Oleynikov, Dmitry

2012-08-01

As surgical robots begin to occupy a larger place in operating rooms around the world, continued innovation is necessary to improve our outcomes. A comprehensive review of current surgical robotic user interfaces was performed to describe the modern surgical platforms, identify the benefits, and address the issues of feedback and limitations of visualization. Most robots currently used in surgery employ a master/slave relationship, with the surgeon seated at a work-console, manipulating the master system and visualizing the operation on a video screen. Although enormous strides have been made to advance current technology to the point of clinical use, limitations still exist. A lack of haptic feedback to the surgeon and the inability of the surgeon to be stationed at the operating table are the most notable examples. The future of robotic surgery sees a marked increase in the visualization technologies used in the operating room, as well as in the robots' abilities to convey haptic feedback to the surgeon. This will allow unparalleled sensation for the surgeon and almost eliminate inadvertent tissue contact and injury. A novel design for a user interface will allow the surgeon to have access to the patient bedside, remaining sterile throughout the procedure, employ a head-mounted three-dimensional visualization system, and allow the most intuitive master manipulation of the slave robot to date.

Design of an integrated master-slave robotic system for minimally invasive surgery.

PubMed

Li, Jianmin; Zhou, Ningxin; Wang, Shuxin; Gao, Yuanqian; Liu, Dongchun

2012-03-01

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) robots are commonly used in hospitals and medical centres. However, currently available robotic systems are very complicated and huge, greatly raising system costs and the requirements of operating rooms. These disadvantages have become the major impediments to the expansion of MIS robots. An integrated MIS robotic system is proposed based on the analysis of advantages and disadvantages of different MIS robots. In the proposed system, the master manipulators, slave manipulators, image display device and control system have been designed as a whole. Modular design is adopted for the control system for easy maintenance and upgrade. The kinematic relations between the master and the slave are also investigated and embedded in software to realize intuitive movements of hand and instrument. Finally, animal experiments were designed to test the effectiveness of the robot. The robot realizes natural hand-eye movements between the master and the slave to facilitate MIS operations. The experimental results show that the robot can realize similar functions to those of current commercialized robots. The integrated design simplifies the robotic system and facilitates use of the robot. Compared with the commercialized robots, the proposed MIS robot achieves similar functions and features but with a smaller size and less weight. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An IoT-Enabled Stroke Rehabilitation System Based on Smart Wearable Armband and Machine Learning.

PubMed

Yang, Geng; Deng, Jia; Pang, Gaoyang; Zhang, Hao; Li, Jiayi; Deng, Bin; Pang, Zhibo; Xu, Juan; Jiang, Mingzhe; Liljeberg, Pasi; Xie, Haibo; Yang, Huayong

2018-01-01

Surface electromyography signal plays an important role in hand function recovery training. In this paper, an IoT-enabled stroke rehabilitation system was introduced which was based on a smart wearable armband (SWA), machine learning (ML) algorithms, and a 3-D printed dexterous robot hand. User comfort is one of the key issues which should be addressed for wearable devices. The SWA was developed by integrating a low-power and tiny-sized IoT sensing device with textile electrodes, which can measure, pre-process, and wirelessly transmit bio-potential signals. By evenly distributing surface electrodes over user's forearm, drawbacks of classification accuracy poor performance can be mitigated. A new method was put forward to find the optimal feature set. ML algorithms were leveraged to analyze and discriminate features of different hand movements, and their performances were appraised by classification complexity estimating algorithms and principal components analysis. According to the verification results, all nine gestures can be successfully identified with an average accuracy up to 96.20%. In addition, a 3-D printed five-finger robot hand was implemented for hand rehabilitation training purpose. Correspondingly, user's hand movement intentions were extracted and converted into a series of commands which were used to drive motors assembled inside the dexterous robot hand. As a result, the dexterous robot hand can mimic the user's gesture in a real-time manner, which shows the proposed system can be used as a training tool to facilitate rehabilitation process for the patients after stroke.

An integrated movement capture and control platform applied towards autonomous movements of surgical robots.

PubMed

Daluja, Sachin; Golenberg, Lavie; Cao, Alex; Pandya, Abhilash K; Auner, Gregory W; Klein, Michael D

2009-01-01

Robotic surgery has gradually gained acceptance due to its numerous advantages such as tremor filtration, increased dexterity and motion scaling. There remains, however, a significant scope for improvement, especially in the areas of surgeon-robot interface and autonomous procedures. Previous studies have attempted to identify factors affecting a surgeon's performance in a master-slave robotic system by tracking hand movements. These studies relied on conventional optical or magnetic tracking systems, making their use impracticable in the operating room. This study concentrated on building an intrinsic movement capture platform using microcontroller based hardware wired to a surgical robot. Software was developed to enable tracking and analysis of hand movements while surgical tasks were performed. Movement capture was applied towards automated movements of the robotic instruments. By emulating control signals, recorded surgical movements were replayed by the robot's end-effectors. Though this work uses a surgical robot as the platform, the ideas and concepts put forward are applicable to telerobotic systems in general.

Adapting a Robot Hand to Specialized Functions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, Keith H.

1987-01-01

Adaptor enables mechanical and electrical connections made easily between special-purpose end effector and arm of robot or remote mainpulator. Use in prosthetic devices also contemplatd. With adaptor, hand changed quickly from device designed to grasp objects of various sizes and shapes to device intended to do specific task efficiently.

Calculator-Controlled Robots: Hands-On Mathematics and Science Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuchscherer, Tyson

2010-01-01

The Calculator Controlled Robots activities are designed to engage students in hands-on inquiry-based missions. These activities address National science and technology standards, as well as specifically focusing on mathematics content and process standards. There are ten missions and three exploration extensions that provide activities for up to…

Process for anodizing a robotic device

DOEpatents

Townsend, William T [Weston, MA

2011-11-08

A robotic device has a base and at least one finger having at least two links that are connected in series on rotary joints with at least two degrees of freedom. A brushless motor and an associated controller are located at each joint to produce a rotational movement of a link. Wires for electrical power and communication serially connect the controllers in a distributed control network. A network operating controller coordinates the operation of the network, including power distribution. At least one, but more typically two to five, wires interconnect all the controllers through one or more joints. Motor sensors and external world sensors monitor operating parameters of the robotic hand. The electrical signal output of the sensors can be input anywhere on the distributed control network. V-grooves on the robotic hand locate objects precisely and assist in gripping. The hand is sealed, immersible and has electrical connections through the rotary joints for anodizing in a single dunk without masking. In various forms, this intelligent, self-contained, dexterous hand, or combinations of such hands, can perform a wide variety of object gripping and manipulating tasks, as well as locomotion and combinations of locomotion and gripping.

Real-Time Control of an Exoskeleton Hand Robot with Myoelectric Pattern Recognition.

PubMed

Lu, Zhiyuan; Chen, Xiang; Zhang, Xu; Tong, Kay-Yu; Zhou, Ping

2017-08-01

Robot-assisted training provides an effective approach to neurological injury rehabilitation. To meet the challenge of hand rehabilitation after neurological injuries, this study presents an advanced myoelectric pattern recognition scheme for real-time intention-driven control of a hand exoskeleton. The developed scheme detects and recognizes user's intention of six different hand motions using four channels of surface electromyography (EMG) signals acquired from the forearm and hand muscles, and then drives the exoskeleton to assist the user accomplish the intended motion. The system was tested with eight neurologically intact subjects and two individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). The overall control accuracy was [Formula: see text] for the neurologically intact subjects and [Formula: see text] for the SCI subjects. The total lag of the system was approximately 250[Formula: see text]ms including data acquisition, transmission and processing. One SCI subject also participated in training sessions in his second and third visits. Both the control accuracy and efficiency tended to improve. These results show great potential for applying the advanced myoelectric pattern recognition control of the wearable robotic hand system toward improving hand function after neurological injuries.

Embodied Information in Cognitive Tasks: Haptic Weight Sensations Affect Task Performance and Processing Style

PubMed Central

Kaspar, Kai; Vennekötter, Alina

2015-01-01

Research in the field of embodied cognition showed that incidental weight sensations influence peoples’ judgments about a variety of issues and objects. Most studies found that heaviness compared to lightness increases the perception of importance, seriousness, and potency. In two experiments, we broadened this scope by investigating the impact of weight sensations on cognitive performance. In Experiment 1, we found that the performance in an anagram task was reduced when participants held a heavy versus a light clipboard in their hands. Reduced performance was accompanied by an increase in the perceived effort. In Experiment 2, a heavy clipboard elicited a specific response heuristic in a two-alternative forced-choice task. Participants showed a significant right side bias when holding a heavy clipboard in their hands. After the task, participants in the heavy clipboard condition reported to be more frustrated than participants in the light clipboard condition. In both experiments, we did not find evidence for mediated effects that had been proposed by previous literature. Overall, the results indicate that weight effects go beyond judgment formation and highlight new avenues for future research. PMID:26421084

Neural-Network Control Of Prosthetic And Robotic Hands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buckley, Theresa M.

1991-01-01

Electronic neural networks proposed for use in controlling robotic and prosthetic hands and exoskeletal or glovelike electromechanical devices aiding intact but nonfunctional hands. Specific to patient, who activates grasping motion by voice command, by mechanical switch, or by myoelectric impulse. Patient retains higher-level control, while lower-level control provided by neural network analogous to that of miniature brain. During training, patient teaches miniature brain to perform specialized, anthropomorphic movements unique to himself or herself.

A cognitive operating system (COGNOSYS) for JPL's robot, phase 1 report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathur, F. P.

1972-01-01

The most important software requirement for any robot development is the COGNitive Operating SYStem (COGNOSYS). This report describes the Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory's hand eye software system from the point of view of developing a cognitive operating system for JPL's robot. In this, the Phase 1 of the JPL robot COGNOSYS task the installation of a SAIL compiler and a FAIL assembler on Caltech's PDP-10 have been accomplished and guidelines have been prepared for the implementation of a Stanford University type hand eye software system on JPL-Caltech's computing facility. The alternatives offered by using RAND-USC's PDP-10 Tenex operating sytem are also considered.

Sensory substitution for space gloves and for space robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bach-Y-rita, P.; Webster, J. G.; Tompkins, W. J.; Crabb, T.

1987-01-01

Sensory substitution systems for space applications are described. Physical sensors replace missing human receptors and feed information to the interpretive centers of a different sense. The brain is plastic enough so that, with training, the subject localizes the input as if it were received through the missing receptors. Astronauts have difficulty feeling objects through space suit gloves because of their thickness and because of the 4.3 psi pressure difference. Miniature force sensors on the glove palm drive an electrotactile belt around the waist, thus augmenting the missing tactile sensation. A proposed teleoperator system with telepresence for a space robot would incorporate teleproprioception and a force sensor/electrotactile belt sensory substitution system for teletouch.

A new approach of active compliance control via fuzzy logic control for multifingered robot hand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamil, M. F. A.; Jalani, J.; Ahmad, A.

2016-07-01

Safety is a vital issue in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). In order to guarantee safety in HRI, a model reference impedance control can be a very useful approach introducing a compliant control. In particular, this paper establishes a fuzzy logic compliance control (i.e. active compliance control) to reduce impact and forces during physical interaction between humans/objects and robots. Exploiting a virtual mass-spring-damper system allows us to determine a desired compliant level by understanding the behavior of the model reference impedance control. The performance of fuzzy logic compliant control is tested in simulation for a robotic hand known as the RED Hand. The results show that the fuzzy logic is a feasible control approach, particularly to control position and to provide compliant control. In addition, the fuzzy logic control allows us to simplify the controller design process (i.e. avoid complex computation) when dealing with nonlinearities and uncertainties.

Self-development of visual space perception by learning from the hand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chung, Jae-Moon; Ohnishi, Noboru

1998-10-01

Animals have been considered to develop ability for interpreting images captured on their retina by themselves gradually from their birth. For this they do not need external supervisor. We think that the visual function is obtained together with the development of hand reaching and grasping operations which are executed by active interaction with environment. On the viewpoint of hand teaches eye, this paper shows how visual space perception is developed in a simulated robot. The robot has simplified human-like structure used for hand-eye coordination. From the experimental results it may be possible to validate the method to describe how visual space perception of biological systems is developed. In addition the description gives a way to self-calibrate the vision of intelligent robot based on learn by doing manner without external supervision.

3D Visual Data-Driven Spatiotemporal Deformations for Non-Rigid Object Grasping Using Robot Hands

PubMed Central

Mateo, Carlos M.; Gil, Pablo; Torres, Fernando

2016-01-01

Sensing techniques are important for solving problems of uncertainty inherent to intelligent grasping tasks. The main goal here is to present a visual sensing system based on range imaging technology for robot manipulation of non-rigid objects. Our proposal provides a suitable visual perception system of complex grasping tasks to support a robot controller when other sensor systems, such as tactile and force, are not able to obtain useful data relevant to the grasping manipulation task. In particular, a new visual approach based on RGBD data was implemented to help a robot controller carry out intelligent manipulation tasks with flexible objects. The proposed method supervises the interaction between the grasped object and the robot hand in order to avoid poor contact between the fingertips and an object when there is neither force nor pressure data. This new approach is also used to measure changes to the shape of an object’s surfaces and so allows us to find deformations caused by inappropriate pressure being applied by the hand’s fingers. Test was carried out for grasping tasks involving several flexible household objects with a multi-fingered robot hand working in real time. Our approach generates pulses from the deformation detection method and sends an event message to the robot controller when surface deformation is detected. In comparison with other methods, the obtained results reveal that our visual pipeline does not use deformations models of objects and materials, as well as the approach works well both planar and 3D household objects in real time. In addition, our method does not depend on the pose of the robot hand because the location of the reference system is computed from a recognition process of a pattern located place at the robot forearm. The presented experiments demonstrate that the proposed method accomplishes a good monitoring of grasping task with several objects and different grasping configurations in indoor environments. PMID:27164102

Sensations of skin infestation linked to abnormal frontolimbic brain reactivity and differences in self-representation.

PubMed

Eccles, J A; Garfinkel, S N; Harrison, N A; Ward, J; Taylor, R E; Bewley, A P; Critchley, H D

2015-10-01

Some patients experience skin sensations of infestation and contamination that are elusive to proximate dermatological explanation. We undertook a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of the brain to demonstrate, for the first time, that central processing of infestation-relevant stimuli is altered in patients with such abnormal skin sensations. We show differences in neural activity within amygdala, insula, middle temporal lobe and frontal cortices. Patients also demonstrated altered measures of self-representation, with poorer sensitivity to internal bodily (interoceptive) signals and greater susceptibility to take on an illusion of body ownership: the rubber hand illusion. Together, these findings highlight a potential model for the maintenance of abnormal skin sensations, encompassing heightened threat processing within amygdala, increased salience of skin representations within insula and compromised prefrontal capacity for self-regulation and appraisal. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dissociable neural responses to hands and non-hand body parts in human left extrastriate visual cortex.

PubMed

Bracci, Stefania; Ietswaart, Magdalena; Peelen, Marius V; Cavina-Pratesi, Cristiana

2010-06-01

Accumulating evidence points to a map of visual regions encoding specific categories of objects. For example, a region in the human extrastriate visual cortex, the extrastriate body area (EBA), has been implicated in the visual processing of bodies and body parts. Although in the monkey, neurons selective for hands have been reported, in humans it is unclear whether areas selective for individual body parts such as the hand exist. Here, we conducted two functional MRI experiments to test for hand-preferring responses in the human extrastriate visual cortex. We found evidence for a hand-preferring region in left lateral occipitotemporal cortex in all 14 participants. This region, located in the lateral occipital sulcus, partially overlapped with left EBA, but could be functionally and anatomically dissociated from it. In experiment 2, we further investigated the functional profile of hand- and body-preferring regions by measuring responses to hands, fingers, feet, assorted body parts (arms, legs, torsos), and non-biological handlike stimuli such as robotic hands. The hand-preferring region responded most strongly to hands, followed by robotic hands, fingers, and feet, whereas its response to assorted body parts did not significantly differ from baseline. By contrast, EBA responded most strongly to body parts, followed by hands and feet, and did not significantly respond to robotic hands or fingers. Together, these results provide evidence for a representation of the hand in extrastriate visual cortex that is distinct from the representation of other body parts.

Dissociable Neural Responses to Hands and Non-Hand Body Parts in Human Left Extrastriate Visual Cortex

PubMed Central

Ietswaart, Magdalena; Peelen, Marius V.; Cavina-Pratesi, Cristiana

2010-01-01

Accumulating evidence points to a map of visual regions encoding specific categories of objects. For example, a region in the human extrastriate visual cortex, the extrastriate body area (EBA), has been implicated in the visual processing of bodies and body parts. Although in the monkey, neurons selective for hands have been reported, in humans it is unclear whether areas selective for individual body parts such as the hand exist. Here, we conducted two functional MRI experiments to test for hand-preferring responses in the human extrastriate visual cortex. We found evidence for a hand-preferring region in left lateral occipitotemporal cortex in all 14 participants. This region, located in the lateral occipital sulcus, partially overlapped with left EBA, but could be functionally and anatomically dissociated from it. In experiment 2, we further investigated the functional profile of hand- and body-preferring regions by measuring responses to hands, fingers, feet, assorted body parts (arms, legs, torsos), and non-biological handlike stimuli such as robotic hands. The hand-preferring region responded most strongly to hands, followed by robotic hands, fingers, and feet, whereas its response to assorted body parts did not significantly differ from baseline. By contrast, EBA responded most strongly to body parts, followed by hands and feet, and did not significantly respond to robotic hands or fingers. Together, these results provide evidence for a representation of the hand in extrastriate visual cortex that is distinct from the representation of other body parts. PMID:20393066

Nerve injury following shoulder dislocation: the emergency physician's perspective.

PubMed

Ameh, Victor; Crane, Steve

2006-08-01

We describe the case of a 57-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department with a right anterior shoulder dislocation following a fall onto the right shoulder and right upper arm. She also complained of numbness in the right forearm and dorsum of the right hand. The examination revealed a bruise to the upper aspect of the right arm resulting from the impact following the fall. The patient also had a right wrist drop and loss of sensation in the lateral border of the right forearm and on the dorsum of the right hand, suggesting a radial nerve injury. She also had altered sensation in the ulnar distribution of her right hand, suspicious of concomitant ulnar nerve injury. No loss of sensation in the distribution of the axillary nerve (regimental patch) was observed. These findings were carefully documented and the patient subsequently had the shoulder reduced under entonox and morphine. The neurological deficits remained unchanged. The patient was sent home from the emergency room with arrangements for orthopaedic and physiotherapy follow-up. After a 3-month period, she had clinical and electromyography evidence of persistent radial and ulnar nerve deficit. She continues to have physiotherapy. This case highlights the need for awareness of the potential for nerve damage following shoulder dislocation and also to ensure that appropriate follow-up plan is instituted on discharge from the emergency department.

Citalopram

MedlinePlus

... mood changes, irritability, agitation, dizziness, numbness, tingling or electric shock-like sensations in the hands or feet, ... may make you drowsy. Do not drive a car or operate machinery until you know how this ...

Fluvoxamine

MedlinePlus

... staying asleep; or pain, burning, numbness, tingling or 'electric shock' sensations in the hands or feet. Your ... thinking, or motor skills. Do not drive a car or operate machinery until you know how this ...

Intelligent control and adaptive systems; Proceedings of the Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, Nov. 7, 8, 1989

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriguez, Guillermo (Editor)

1990-01-01

Various papers on intelligent control and adaptive systems are presented. Individual topics addressed include: control architecture for a Mars walking vehicle, representation for error detection and recovery in robot task plans, real-time operating system for robots, execution monitoring of a mobile robot system, statistical mechanics models for motion and force planning, global kinematics for manipulator planning and control, exploration of unknown mechanical assemblies through manipulation, low-level representations for robot vision, harmonic functions for robot path construction, simulation of dual behavior of an autonomous system. Also discussed are: control framework for hand-arm coordination, neural network approach to multivehicle navigation, electronic neural networks for global optimization, neural network for L1 norm linear regression, planning for assembly with robot hands, neural networks in dynamical systems, control design with iterative learning, improved fuzzy process control of spacecraft autonomous rendezvous using a genetic algorithm.

Applying a soft-robotic glove as assistive device and training tool with games to support hand function after stroke: Preliminary results on feasibility and potential clinical impact.

PubMed

Prange-Lasonder, Gerdienke B; Radder, Bob; Kottink, Anke I R; Melendez-Calderon, Alejandro; Buurke, Jaap H; Rietman, Johan S

2017-07-01

Recent technological developments regarding wearable soft-robotic devices extend beyond the current application of rehabilitation robotics and enable unobtrusive support of the arms and hands during daily activities. In this light, the HandinMind (HiM) system was developed, comprising a soft-robotic, grip supporting glove with an added computer gaming environment. The present study aims to gain first insight into the feasibility of clinical application of the HiM system and its potential impact. In order to do so, both the direct influence of the HiM system on hand function as assistive device and its therapeutic potential, of either assistive or therapeutic use, were explored. A pilot randomized clinical trial was combined with a cross-sectional measurement (comparing performance with and without glove) at baseline in 5 chronic stroke patients, to investigate both the direct assistive and potential therapeutic effects of the HiM system. Extended use of the soft-robotic glove as assistive device at home or with dedicated gaming exercises in a clinical setting was applicable and feasible. A positive assistive effect of the soft-robotic glove was proposed for pinch strength and functional task performance 'lifting full cans' in most of the five participants. A potential therapeutic impact was suggested with predominantly improved hand strength in both participants with assistive use, and faster functional task performance in both participants with therapeutic application.

A new scheme of force reflecting control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, Won S.

1992-01-01

A new scheme of force reflecting control has been developed that incorporates position-error-based force reflection and robot compliance control. The operator is provided with a kinesthetic force feedback which is proportional to the position error between the operator-commanded and the actual position of the robot arm. Robot compliance control, which increases the effective compliance of the robot, is implemented by low pass filtering the outputs of the force/torque sensor mounted on the base of robot hand and using these signals to alter the operator's position command. This position-error-based force reflection scheme combined with shared compliance control has been implemented successfully to the Advanced Teleoperation system consisting of dissimilar master-slave arms. Stability measurements have demonstrated unprecedentedly high force reflection gains of up to 2 or 3, even though the slave arm is much stiffer than operator's hand holding the force reflecting hand controller. Peg-in-hole experiments were performed with eight different operating modes to evaluate the new force-reflecting control scheme. Best task performance resulted with this new control scheme.

Soft robotic devices for hand rehabilitation and assistance: a narrative review.

PubMed

Chu, Chia-Ye; Patterson, Rita M

2018-02-17

The debilitating effects on hand function from a number of a neurologic disorders has given rise to the development of rehabilitative robotic devices aimed at restoring hand function in these patients. To combat the shortcomings of previous traditional robotics, soft robotics are rapidly emerging as an alternative due to their inherent safety, less complex designs, and increased potential for portability and efficacy. While several groups have begun designing devices, there are few devices that have progressed enough to provide clinical evidence of their design's therapeutic abilities. Therefore, a global review of devices that have been previously attempted could facilitate the development of new and improved devices in the next step towards obtaining clinical proof of the rehabilitative effects of soft robotics in hand dysfunction. A literature search was performed in SportDiscus, Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science for articles related to the design of soft robotic devices for hand rehabilitation. A framework of the key design elements of the devices was developed to ease the comparison of the various approaches to building them. This framework includes an analysis of the trends in portability, safety features, user intent detection methods, actuation systems, total DOF, number of independent actuators, device weight, evaluation metrics, and modes of rehabilitation. In this study, a total of 62 articles representing 44 unique devices were identified and summarized according to the framework we developed to compare different design aspects. By far, the most common type of device was that which used a pneumatic actuator to guide finger flexion/extension. However, the remainder of our framework elements yielded more heterogeneous results. Consequently, those results are summarized and the advantages and disadvantages of many design choices as well as their rationales were highlighted. The past 3 years has seen a rapid increase in the development of soft robotic devices for hand rehabilitative applications. These mostly preclinical research prototypes display a wide range of technical solutions which have been highlighted in the framework developed in this analysis. More work needs to be done in actuator design, safety, and implementation in order for these devices to progress to clinical trials. It is our goal that this review will guide future developers through the various design considerations in order to develop better devices for patients with hand impairments.

Permeation of limonene through disposable nitrile gloves using a dextrous robot hand

PubMed Central

Banaee, Sean; S Que Hee, Shane

2017-01-01

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the permeation of the low-volatile solvent limonene through different disposable, unlined, unsupported, nitrile exam whole gloves (blue, purple, sterling, and lavender, from Kimberly-Clark). Methods: This study utilized a moving and static dextrous robot hand as part of a novel dynamic permeation system that allowed sampling at specific times. Quantitation of limonene in samples was based on capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and the internal standard method (4-bromophenol). Results: The average post-permeation thicknesses (before reconditioning) for all gloves for both the moving and static hand were more than 10% of the pre-permeation ones (P≤0.05), although this was not so on reconditioning. The standardized breakthrough times and steady-state permeation periods were similar for the blue, purple, and sterling gloves. Both methods had similar sensitivity. The lavender glove showed a higher permeation rate (0.490±0.031 μg/cm2/min) for the moving robotic hand compared to the non-moving hand (P≤0.05), this being ascribed to a thickness threshold. Conclusions: Permeation parameters for the static and dynamic robot hand models indicate that both methods have similar sensitivity in detecting the analyte during permeation and the blue, purple, and sterling gloves behave similarly during the permeation process whether moving or non-moving. PMID:28111415

Design and validation of low-cost assistive glove for hand assessment and therapy during activity of daily living-focused robotic stroke therapy.

PubMed

Nathan, Dominic E; Johnson, Michelle J; McGuire, John R

2009-01-01

Hand and arm impairment is common after stroke. Robotic stroke therapy will be more effective if hand and upper-arm training is integrated to help users practice reaching and grasping tasks. This article presents the design, development, and validation of a low-cost, functional electrical stimulation grasp-assistive glove for use with task-oriented robotic stroke therapy. Our glove measures grasp aperture while a user completes simple-to-complex real-life activities, and when combined with an integrated functional electrical stimulator, it assists in hand opening and closing. A key function is a new grasp-aperture prediction model, which uses the position of the end-effectors of two planar robots to define the distance between the thumb and index finger. We validated the accuracy and repeatability of the glove and its capability to assist in grasping. Results from five nondisabled subjects indicated that the glove is accurate and repeatable for both static hand-open and -closed tasks when compared with goniometric measures and for dynamic reach-to-grasp tasks when compared with motion analysis measures. Results from five subjects with stroke showed that with the glove, they could open their hands but without it could not. We present a glove that is a low-cost solution for in vivo grasp measurement and assistance.

Innovative approaches to the rehabilitation of upper extremity hemiparesis using virtual environments

PubMed Central

MERIANS, A. S.; TUNIK, E.; FLUET, G. G.; QIU, Q.; ADAMOVICH, S. V.

2017-01-01

Aim Upper-extremity interventions for hemiparesis are a challenging aspect of stroke rehabilitation. Purpose of this paper is to report the feasibility of using virtual environments (VEs) in combination with robotics to assist recovery of hand-arm function and to present preliminary data demonstrating the potential of using sensory manipulations in VE to drive activation in targeted neural regions. Methods We trained 8 subjects for 8 three hour sessions using a library of complex VE’s integrated with robots, comparing training arm and hand separately to training arm and hand together. Instrumented gloves and hand exoskeleton were used for hand tracking and haptic effects. Haptic Master robotic arm was used for arm tracking and generating three-dimensional haptic VEs. To investigate the use of manipulations in VE to drive neural activations, we created a “virtual mirror” that subjects used while performing a unimanual task. Cortical activation was measured with functional MRI (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Results Both groups showed improvement in kinematics and measures of real-world function. The group trained using their arm and hand together showed greater improvement. In a stroke subject, fMRI data suggested virtual mirror feedback could activate the sensorimotor cortex contralateral to the reflected hand (ipsilateral to the moving hand) thus recruiting the lesioned hemisphere. Conclusion Gaming simulations interfaced with robotic devices provide a training medium that can modify movement patterns. In addition to showing that our VE therapies can optimize behavioral performance, we show preliminary evidence to support the potential of using specific sensory manipulations to selectively recruit targeted neural circuits. PMID:19158659

Visual, motor and attentional influences on proprioceptive contributions to perception of hand path rectilinearity during reaching

PubMed Central

Scheidt, Robert A.; Lillis, Kyle P.; Emerson, Scott J.

2010-01-01

We examined how proprioceptive contributions to perception of hand path straightness are influenced by visual, motor and attentional sources of performance variability during horizontal planar reaching. Subjects held the handle of a robot that constrained goal-directed movements of the hand to paths of controlled curvature. Subjects attempted to detect the presence of hand path curvature during both active (subject-driven) and passive (robot-driven) movements that either required active muscle force production or not. Subjects were less able to discriminate curved from straight paths when actively reaching for a target vs. when the robot moved their hand through the same curved paths. This effect was especially evident during robot-driven movements requiring concurrent activation of lengthening but not shortening muscles. Subjects were less likely to report curvature and were more variable in reporting when movements appeared straight in a novel “visual channel” condition previously shown to block adaptive updating of motor commands in response to deviations from a straight-line hand path. Similarly compromised performance was obtained when subjects simultaneously performed a distracting secondary task (key pressing with the contralateral hand). The effects compounded when these last two treatments were combined. It is concluded that environmental, intrinsic and attentional factors all impact the ability to detect deviations from a rectilinear hand path during goal-directed movement by decreasing proprioceptive contributions to limb state estimation. In contrast, response variability increased only in experimental conditions thought to impose additional attentional demands on the observer. Implications of these results for perception and other sensorimotor behaviors are discussed. PMID:20532489

An IoT-Enabled Stroke Rehabilitation System Based on Smart Wearable Armband and Machine Learning

PubMed Central

Yang, Geng; Pang, Gaoyang; Zhang, Hao; Li, Jiayi; Deng, Bin; Pang, Zhibo; Xu, Juan; Jiang, Mingzhe; Liljeberg, Pasi; Xie, Haibo; Yang, Huayong

2018-01-01

Surface electromyography signal plays an important role in hand function recovery training. In this paper, an IoT-enabled stroke rehabilitation system was introduced which was based on a smart wearable armband (SWA), machine learning (ML) algorithms, and a 3-D printed dexterous robot hand. User comfort is one of the key issues which should be addressed for wearable devices. The SWA was developed by integrating a low-power and tiny-sized IoT sensing device with textile electrodes, which can measure, pre-process, and wirelessly transmit bio-potential signals. By evenly distributing surface electrodes over user’s forearm, drawbacks of classification accuracy poor performance can be mitigated. A new method was put forward to find the optimal feature set. ML algorithms were leveraged to analyze and discriminate features of different hand movements, and their performances were appraised by classification complexity estimating algorithms and principal components analysis. According to the verification results, all nine gestures can be successfully identified with an average accuracy up to 96.20%. In addition, a 3-D printed five-finger robot hand was implemented for hand rehabilitation training purpose. Correspondingly, user’s hand movement intentions were extracted and converted into a series of commands which were used to drive motors assembled inside the dexterous robot hand. As a result, the dexterous robot hand can mimic the user’s gesture in a real-time manner, which shows the proposed system can be used as a training tool to facilitate rehabilitation process for the patients after stroke. PMID:29805919

Intracortical microstimulation of human somatosensory cortex.

PubMed

Flesher, Sharlene N; Collinger, Jennifer L; Foldes, Stephen T; Weiss, Jeffrey M; Downey, John E; Tyler-Kabara, Elizabeth C; Bensmaia, Sliman J; Schwartz, Andrew B; Boninger, Michael L; Gaunt, Robert A

2016-10-19

Intracortical microstimulation of the somatosensory cortex offers the potential for creating a sensory neuroprosthesis to restore tactile sensation. Whereas animal studies have suggested that both cutaneous and proprioceptive percepts can be evoked using this approach, the perceptual quality of the stimuli cannot be measured in these experiments. We show that microstimulation within the hand area of the somatosensory cortex of a person with long-term spinal cord injury evokes tactile sensations perceived as originating from locations on the hand and that cortical stimulation sites are organized according to expected somatotopic principles. Many of these percepts exhibit naturalistic characteristics (including feelings of pressure), can be evoked at low stimulation amplitudes, and remain stable for months. Further, modulating the stimulus amplitude grades the perceptual intensity of the stimuli, suggesting that intracortical microstimulation could be used to convey information about the contact location and pressure necessary to perform dexterous hand movements associated with object manipulation. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Robotics: Instructional Manual. The North Dakota High Technology Mobile Laboratory Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Auer, Herbert J.

This instructional manual contains 20 learning activity packets for use in a workshop on robotics. The lessons cover the following topics: safety considerations in robotics; introduction to technology-level and coordinate-systems categories; the teach pendant (a hand-held computer, usually attached to the robot controller, with which the operator…

Design of a Lightweight Soft Robotic Arm Using Pneumatic Artificial Muscles and Inflatable Sleeves.

PubMed

Ohta, Preston; Valle, Luis; King, Jonathan; Low, Kevin; Yi, Jaehyun; Atkeson, Christopher G; Park, Yong-Lae

2018-04-01

As robots begin to interact with humans and operate in human environments, safety becomes a major concern. Conventional robots, although reliable and consistent, can cause injury to anyone within its range of motion. Soft robotics, wherein systems are made to be soft and mechanically compliant, are thus a promising alternative due to their lightweight nature and ability to cushion impacts, but current designs often sacrifice accuracy and usefulness for safety. We, therefore, have developed a bioinspired robotic arm combining elements of rigid and soft robotics such that it exhibits the positive qualities of both, namely compliance and accuracy, while maintaining a low weight. This article describes the design of a robotic arm-wrist-hand system with seven degrees of freedom (DOFs). The shoulder and elbow each has two DOFs for two perpendicular rotational motions on each joint, and the hand has two DOFs for wrist rotations and one DOF for a grasp motion. The arm is pneumatically powered using custom-built McKibben type pneumatic artificial muscles, which are inflated and deflated using binary and proportional valves. The wrist and hand motions are actuated through servomotors. In addition to the actuators, the arm is equipped with a potentiometer in each joint for detecting joint angle changes. Simulation and experimental results for closed-loop position control are also presented in the article.

Visual and tactile interfaces for bi-directional human robot communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barber, Daniel; Lackey, Stephanie; Reinerman-Jones, Lauren; Hudson, Irwin

2013-05-01

Seamless integration of unmanned and systems and Soldiers in the operational environment requires robust communication capabilities. Multi-Modal Communication (MMC) facilitates achieving this goal due to redundancy and levels of communication superior to single mode interaction using auditory, visual, and tactile modalities. Visual signaling using arm and hand gestures is a natural method of communication between people. Visual signals standardized within the U.S. Army Field Manual and in use by Soldiers provide a foundation for developing gestures for human to robot communication. Emerging technologies using Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) enable classification of arm and hand gestures for communication with a robot without the requirement of line-of-sight needed by computer vision techniques. These devices improve the robustness of interpreting gestures in noisy environments and are capable of classifying signals relevant to operational tasks. Closing the communication loop between Soldiers and robots necessitates them having the ability to return equivalent messages. Existing visual signals from robots to humans typically require highly anthropomorphic features not present on military vehicles. Tactile displays tap into an unused modality for robot to human communication. Typically used for hands-free navigation and cueing, existing tactile display technologies are used to deliver equivalent visual signals from the U.S. Army Field Manual. This paper describes ongoing research to collaboratively develop tactile communication methods with Soldiers, measure classification accuracy of visual signal interfaces, and provides an integration example including two robotic platforms.

Kinect technology for hand tracking control of surgical robots: technical and surgical skill comparison to current robotic masters.

PubMed

Kim, Yonjae; Leonard, Simon; Shademan, Azad; Krieger, Axel; Kim, Peter C W

2014-06-01

Current surgical robots are controlled by a mechanical master located away from the patient, tracking surgeon's hands by wire and pulleys or mechanical linkage. Contactless hand tracking for surgical robot control is an attractive alternative, because it can be executed with minimal footprint at the patient's bedside without impairing sterility, while eliminating current disassociation between surgeon and patient. We compared technical and technologic feasibility of contactless hand tracking to the current clinical standard master controllers. A hand-tracking system (Kinect™-based 3Gear), a wire-based mechanical master (Mantis Duo), and a clinical mechanical linkage master (da Vinci) were evaluated for technical parameters with strong clinical relevance: system latency, static noise, robot slave tremor, and controller range. Five experienced surgeons performed a skill comparison study, evaluating the three different master controllers for efficiency and accuracy in peg transfer and pointing tasks. da Vinci had the lowest latency of 89 ms, followed by Mantis with 374 ms and 3Gear with 576 ms. Mantis and da Vinci produced zero static error. 3Gear produced average static error of 0.49 mm. The tremor of the robot used by the 3Gear and Mantis system had a radius of 1.7 mm compared with 0.5 mm for da Vinci. The three master controllers all had similar range. The surgeons took 1.98 times longer to complete the peg transfer task with the 3Gear system compared with Mantis, and 2.72 times longer with Mantis compared with da Vinci (p value 2.1e-9). For the pointer task, surgeons were most accurate with da Vinci with average error of 0.72 mm compared with Mantis's 1.61 mm and 3Gear's 2.41 mm (p value 0.00078). Contactless hand-tracking technology as a surgical master can execute simple surgical tasks. Whereas traditional master controllers outperformed, given that contactless hand-tracking is a first-generation technology, clinical potential is promising and could become a reality with some technical improvements.

Regional differences in temperature sensation and thermal comfort in humans.

PubMed

Nakamura, Mayumi; Yoda, Tamae; Crawshaw, Larry I; Yasuhara, Saki; Saito, Yasuyo; Kasuga, Momoko; Nagashima, Kei; Kanosue, Kazuyuki

2008-12-01

Sensations evoked by thermal stimulation (temperature-related sensations) can be divided into two categories, "temperature sensation" and "thermal comfort." Although several studies have investigated regional differences in temperature sensation, less is known about the sensitivity differences in thermal comfort for the various body regions. In the present study, we examined regional differences in temperature-related sensations with special attention to thermal comfort. Healthy male subjects sitting in an environment of mild heat or cold were locally cooled or warmed with water-perfused stimulators. Areas stimulated were the face, chest, abdomen, and thigh. Temperature sensation and thermal comfort of the stimulated areas were reported by the subjects, as was whole body thermal comfort. During mild heat exposure, facial cooling was most comfortable and facial warming was most uncomfortable. On the other hand, during mild cold exposure, neither warming nor cooling of the face had a major effect. The chest and abdomen had characteristics opposite to those of the face. Local warming of the chest and abdomen did produce a strong comfort sensation during whole body cold exposure. The thermal comfort seen in this study suggests that if given the chance, humans would preferentially cool the head in the heat, and they would maintain the warmth of the trunk areas in the cold. The qualitative differences seen in thermal comfort for the various areas cannot be explained solely by the density or properties of the peripheral thermal receptors and thus must reflect processing mechanisms in the central nervous system.

Robot Hand Grips Cylinders Securely

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parma, George F.

1989-01-01

Jaws and linkage accommodate various sizes. Robot hand includes two pairs of parallel jaws that grasp rods, pipes, tubes, struts, and other long, heavy cylindrical objects. Hand features compact rotary drive and butterfly configuration simplifying approach and gripping maneuvers of robot. Parallelogram linkages maintain alignment of each jaw with other jaws. One bar of each linkage connected to one of two concentric, counterrotating shafts; rotation of shafts moves jaws in each pair toward or away from each other to grasp or release workpiece. Each jaw includes rigid gripping pad lined with rubber to give firm grip and to prevent damage to workpiece. Inner cylindrical surface (corner) of each jaw tapers off to flat sides. Enables jaw to grasp workpieces with diameters larger than or equal to twice the corner radius.

Robotic hand with modular extensions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Salisbury, Curt Michael; Quigley, Morgan

A robotic device is described herein. The robotic device includes a frame that comprises a plurality of receiving regions that are configured to receive a respective plurality of modular robotic extensions. The modular robotic extensions are removably attachable to the frame at the respective receiving regions by way of respective mechanical fuses. Each mechanical fuse is configured to trip when a respective modular robotic extension experiences a predefined load condition, such that the respective modular robotic extension detaches from the frame when the load condition is met.

Robot-assisted Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy with intrathoracic robot-sewn anastomosis.

PubMed

Jin, Runsen; Xiang, Jie; Han, Dingpei; Zhang, Yajie; Li, Hecheng

2017-11-01

This video clip demonstrated a performance of robot-assisted Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy with intrathoracic robot-sewn anastomosis. The patient had an esophageal mass located approximately 33 cm away from incisor, and robot-assisted Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy was applied for him. Importantly, a double-layer esophago-gastric anastomosis was made by robotic hand-sewn suture. Our early experience demonstrated that the robot-sewn intrathoracic anastomosis is feasible and safe with a lower complication rate and the absence of anastomotic leakage.

Results of Clinicians Using a Therapeutic Robotic System in an Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation Unit

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Physical rehabilitation is an area where robotics could contribute significantly to improved motor return for individuals following a stroke. This paper presents the results of a preliminary randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a robot system used in the rehabilitation of the paretic arm following a stroke. Methods The study's objectives were to explore the efficacy of this new type of robotic therapy as compared to standard physiotherapy treatment in treating the post-stroke arm; to evaluate client satisfaction with the proposed robotic system; and to provide data for sample size calculations for a proposed larger multicenter RCT. Twenty clients admitted to an inpatient stroke rehabilitation unit were randomly allocated to one of two groups, an experimental (robotic arm therapy) group or a control group (conventional therapy). An occupational therapist blinded to patient allocation administered two reliable measures, the Chedoke Arm and Hand Activity Inventory (CAHAI-7) and the Chedoke McMaster Stroke Assessment of the Arm and Hand (CMSA) at admission and discharge. For both groups, at admission, the CMSA motor impairment stage of the affected arm was between 1 and 3. Results Data were compared to determine the effectiveness of robot-assisted versus conventional therapy treatments. At the functional level, both groups performed well, with improvement in scores on the CAHAI-7 showing clinical and statistical significance. The CAHAI-7 (range7-49) is a measure of motor performance using functional items. Individuals in the robotic therapy group, on average, improved by 62% (95% CI: 26% to 107%) while those in the conventional therapy group changed by 30% (95% CI: 4% to 61%). Although performance on this measure is influenced by hand recovery, our results showed that both groups had similar stages of motor impairment in the hand. Furthermore, the degree of shoulder pain, as measured by the CMSA pain inventory scale, did not worsen for either group over the course of treatment. Conclusion Our findings indicated that robotic arm therapy alone, without additional physical therapy interventions tailored to the paretic arm, was as effective as standard physiotherapy treatment for all responses and more effective than conventional treatment for the CMSA Arm (p = 0.04) and Hand (p = 0.04). At the functional level, both groups performed equally well. PMID:21871095

Results of clinicians using a therapeutic robotic system in an inpatient stroke rehabilitation unit.

PubMed

Abdullah, Hussein A; Tarry, Cole; Lambert, Cynthia; Barreca, Susan; Allen, Brian O

2011-08-26

Physical rehabilitation is an area where robotics could contribute significantly to improved motor return for individuals following a stroke. This paper presents the results of a preliminary randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a robot system used in the rehabilitation of the paretic arm following a stroke. The study's objectives were to explore the efficacy of this new type of robotic therapy as compared to standard physiotherapy treatment in treating the post-stroke arm; to evaluate client satisfaction with the proposed robotic system; and to provide data for sample size calculations for a proposed larger multicenter RCT. Twenty clients admitted to an inpatient stroke rehabilitation unit were randomly allocated to one of two groups, an experimental (robotic arm therapy) group or a control group (conventional therapy). An occupational therapist blinded to patient allocation administered two reliable measures, the Chedoke Arm and Hand Activity Inventory (CAHAI-7) and the Chedoke McMaster Stroke Assessment of the Arm and Hand (CMSA) at admission and discharge. For both groups, at admission, the CMSA motor impairment stage of the affected arm was between 1 and 3. Data were compared to determine the effectiveness of robot-assisted versus conventional therapy treatments. At the functional level, both groups performed well, with improvement in scores on the CAHAI-7 showing clinical and statistical significance. The CAHAI-7 (range7-49) is a measure of motor performance using functional items. Individuals in the robotic therapy group, on average, improved by 62% (95% CI: 26% to 107%) while those in the conventional therapy group changed by 30% (95% CI: 4% to 61%). Although performance on this measure is influenced by hand recovery, our results showed that both groups had similar stages of motor impairment in the hand. Furthermore, the degree of shoulder pain, as measured by the CMSA pain inventory scale, did not worsen for either group over the course of treatment. Our findings indicated that robotic arm therapy alone, without additional physical therapy interventions tailored to the paretic arm, was as effective as standard physiotherapy treatment for all responses and more effective than conventional treatment for the CMSA Arm (p = 0.04) and Hand (p = 0.04). At the functional level, both groups performed equally well.

Dexterous programmable robot and control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engler, Charles D., Jr.

1995-09-01

An anatomically correct, humanlike, mechanical arm and hand is provided that an operator can control to perform with the dexterity and compliance of a human hand. Being humanlike and robotic enhances the device's control and gripper dexterity. Control of the movement of the arm and hand is performed or guided by a 'teach glove' worn by the operator. As he or she performs some hand manipulation, a controller stores signals from sensors on the exoskeleton. The sensors monitor the operator's finger-joint movement positions. These values are later translated into actuator control signals for servomotors, eventually duplicating the operator's movement.

Multi-Robot Assembly Strategies and Metrics.

PubMed

Marvel, Jeremy A; Bostelman, Roger; Falco, Joe

2018-02-01

We present a survey of multi-robot assembly applications and methods and describe trends and general insights into the multi-robot assembly problem for industrial applications. We focus on fixtureless assembly strategies featuring two or more robotic systems. Such robotic systems include industrial robot arms, dexterous robotic hands, and autonomous mobile platforms, such as automated guided vehicles. In this survey, we identify the types of assemblies that are enabled by utilizing multiple robots, the algorithms that synchronize the motions of the robots to complete the assembly operations, and the metrics used to assess the quality and performance of the assemblies.

Multi-Robot Assembly Strategies and Metrics

PubMed Central

MARVEL, JEREMY A.; BOSTELMAN, ROGER; FALCO, JOE

2018-01-01

We present a survey of multi-robot assembly applications and methods and describe trends and general insights into the multi-robot assembly problem for industrial applications. We focus on fixtureless assembly strategies featuring two or more robotic systems. Such robotic systems include industrial robot arms, dexterous robotic hands, and autonomous mobile platforms, such as automated guided vehicles. In this survey, we identify the types of assemblies that are enabled by utilizing multiple robots, the algorithms that synchronize the motions of the robots to complete the assembly operations, and the metrics used to assess the quality and performance of the assemblies. PMID:29497234

Robotics and general surgery.

PubMed

Jacob, Brian P; Gagner, Michel

2003-12-01

Robotics are now being used in all surgical fields, including general surgery. By increasing intra-abdominal articulations while operating through small incisions, robotics are increasingly being used for a large number of visceral and solid organ operations, including those for the gallbladder, esophagus, stomach, intestines, colon, and rectum, as well as for the endocrine organs. Robotics and general surgery are blending for the first time in history and as a specialty field should continue to grow for many years to come. We continuously demand solutions to questions and limitations that are experienced in our daily work. Laparoscopy is laden with limitations such as fixed axis points at the trocar insertion sites, two-dimensional video monitors, limited dexterity at the instrument tips, lack of haptic sensation, and in some cases poor ergonomics. The creation of a surgical robot system with 3D visual capacity seems to deal with most of these limitations. Although some in the surgical community continue to test the feasibility of these surgical robots and to question the necessity of such an expensive venture, others are already postulating how to improve the next generation of telemanipulators, and in so doing are looking beyond today's horizon to find simpler solutions. As the robotic era enters the world of the general surgeon, more and more complex procedures will be able to be approached through small incisions. As technology catches up with our imaginations, robotic instruments (as opposed to robots) and 3D monitoring will become routine and continue to improve patient care by providing surgeons with the most precise, least traumatic ways of treating surgical disease.

Synergy-Based Bilateral Port: A Universal Control Module for Tele-Manipulation Frameworks Using Asymmetric Master–Slave Systems

PubMed Central

Brygo, Anais; Sarakoglou, Ioannis; Grioli, Giorgio; Tsagarakis, Nikos

2017-01-01

Endowing tele-manipulation frameworks with the capability to accommodate a variety of robotic hands is key to achieving high performances through permitting to flexibly interchange the end-effector according to the task considered. This requires the development of control policies that not only cope with asymmetric master–slave systems but also whose high-level components are designed in a unified space in abstraction from the devices specifics. To address this dual challenge, a novel synergy port is developed that resolves the kinematic, sensing, and actuation asymmetries of the considered system through generating motion and force feedback references in the hardware-independent hand postural synergy space. It builds upon the concept of the Cartesian-based synergy matrix, which is introduced as a tool mapping the fingertips Cartesian space to the directions oriented along the grasp principal components. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the synergy port has been integrated into the control system of a highly asymmetric tele-manipulation framework, in which the 3-finger hand exoskeleton HEXOTRAC is used as a master device to control the SoftHand, a robotic hand whose transmission system relies on a single motor to drive all joints along a soft synergistic path. The platform is further enriched with the vision-based motion capture system Optitrack to monitor the 6D trajectory of the user’s wrist, which is used to control the robotic arm on which the SoftHand is mounted. Experiments have been conducted with the humanoid robot COMAN and the KUKA LWR robotic manipulator. Results indicate that this bilateral interface is highly intuitive and allows users with no prior experience to reach, grasp, and transport a variety of objects exhibiting very different shapes and impedances. In addition, the hardware and control solutions proved capable of accommodating users with different hand kinematics. Finally, the proposed control framework offers a universal, flexible, and intuitive interface allowing for the performance of effective tele-manipulations. PMID:28421179

Synergy-Based Bilateral Port: A Universal Control Module for Tele-Manipulation Frameworks Using Asymmetric Master-Slave Systems.

PubMed

Brygo, Anais; Sarakoglou, Ioannis; Grioli, Giorgio; Tsagarakis, Nikos

2017-01-01

Endowing tele-manipulation frameworks with the capability to accommodate a variety of robotic hands is key to achieving high performances through permitting to flexibly interchange the end-effector according to the task considered. This requires the development of control policies that not only cope with asymmetric master-slave systems but also whose high-level components are designed in a unified space in abstraction from the devices specifics. To address this dual challenge, a novel synergy port is developed that resolves the kinematic, sensing, and actuation asymmetries of the considered system through generating motion and force feedback references in the hardware-independent hand postural synergy space. It builds upon the concept of the Cartesian-based synergy matrix, which is introduced as a tool mapping the fingertips Cartesian space to the directions oriented along the grasp principal components. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the synergy port has been integrated into the control system of a highly asymmetric tele-manipulation framework, in which the 3-finger hand exoskeleton HEXOTRAC is used as a master device to control the SoftHand, a robotic hand whose transmission system relies on a single motor to drive all joints along a soft synergistic path. The platform is further enriched with the vision-based motion capture system Optitrack to monitor the 6D trajectory of the user's wrist, which is used to control the robotic arm on which the SoftHand is mounted. Experiments have been conducted with the humanoid robot COMAN and the KUKA LWR robotic manipulator. Results indicate that this bilateral interface is highly intuitive and allows users with no prior experience to reach, grasp, and transport a variety of objects exhibiting very different shapes and impedances. In addition, the hardware and control solutions proved capable of accommodating users with different hand kinematics. Finally, the proposed control framework offers a universal, flexible, and intuitive interface allowing for the performance of effective tele-manipulations.

Recent advancements in prosthetic hand technology.

PubMed

Saikia, Angana; Mazumdar, Sushmi; Sahai, Nitin; Paul, Sudip; Bhatia, Dinesh; Verma, Suresh; Rohilla, Punit Kumar

2016-07-01

Recently, significant advances over the past decade have been made in robotics, artificial intelligence and other cognitive related fields, allowing development of highly sophisticated bio-mimetic robotics systems. In addition, enormous number of robots have been designed and assembled by explicitly realising their biological oriented behaviours. To enhance skill behaviours and adequate grasping abilities in these devices, a new phase of dexterous hands has been developed recently with bio-mimetically oriented and bio-inspired functionalities. The aim in writing this review paper is to present a detailed insight towards the development of the bio-mimetic based dexterous robotic multi-fingered artificial hand. An "ideal" upper limb prosthesis should be perceived as a part of their natural body by the amputee and should replicate sensory-motor capabilities of the amputated limb. Upper-limb amputations are most often the result of sudden trauma to the body, although they also can be caused by malignancy, congenital deficiencies and vascular diseases. This paper discusses the different bio-mimetic approaches using a framework that permits for a common description of biological and technical based hand manipulation behaviour. In particular, the review focuses on a number of developments in the inspired robotic systems. In conclusion, the study found that a huge amount of research efforts in terms of kinematics, dynamics, modelling and control methodologies are being put in to improve the present hand technology, thereby providing more functionality to the prosthetic limb of the amputee. This would improve their quality-of-life and help in performing activities of daily living (ADL) tasks with comparative ease in the near future.

Robotic Challenges: Robots Bring New Life to Gifted Classes, Teach Students Hands-On Problem Solving, Computer Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Ruth Baynard

1994-01-01

Intermediate level academically talented students learn essential elements of computer programming by working with robots at enrichment workshops at Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey. The children combine creative thinking and problem-solving skills to program the robots' microcomputers to perform a variety of movements. (JDD)

Robots Spur Software That Lends a Hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2014-01-01

While building a robot to assist astronauts in space, Johnson Space Center worked with partners to develop robot reasoning and interaction technology. The partners created Robonaut 1, which led to Robonaut 2, and the work also led to patents now held by Universal Robotics in Nashville, Tennessee. The NASA-derived technology is available for use in warehousing, mining, and more.

Vibrotactile stimulation promotes embodiment of an alien hand in amputees with phantom sensations.

PubMed

D'Alonzo, Marco; Clemente, Francesco; Cipriani, Christian

2015-05-01

Tactile feedback is essential to intuitive control and to promote the sense of self-attribution of a prosthetic limb. Recent findings showed that amputees can be tricked to experience this embodiment, when synchronous and modality-matched stimuli are delivered to biological afferent structures and to an alien rubber hand. Hence, it was suggested to exploit this effect by coupling touch sensors in a prosthesis to an array of haptic tactile stimulators in the prosthetic socket. However, this approach is not clinically viable due to physical limits of current haptic devices. To address this issue we have proposed modality-mismatched stimulation and demonstrated that this promotes self-attribution of an alien hand on normally limbed subjects. In this work we investigated whether similar effects could be induced in transradial amputees with referred phantom sensations in a series of experiments fashioned after the Rubber Hand Illusion using vibrotactile stimulators. Results from three independent measures of embodiment demonstrated that vibrotactile sensory substitution elicits body-ownership of a rubber hand in transradial amputees. These results open up promising possibilities in this field; indeed miniature, safe and inexpensive vibrators could be fitted into commercially available prostheses and sockets to induce the illusion every time the prosthesis manipulates an object.

Robotically facilitated virtual rehabilitation of arm transport integrated with finger movement in persons with hemiparesis.

PubMed

Merians, Alma S; Fluet, Gerard G; Qiu, Qinyin; Saleh, Soha; Lafond, Ian; Davidow, Amy; Adamovich, Sergei V

2011-05-16

Recovery of upper extremity function is particularly recalcitrant to successful rehabilitation. Robotic-assisted arm training devices integrated with virtual targets or complex virtual reality gaming simulations are being developed to deal with this problem. Neural control mechanisms indicate that reaching and hand-object manipulation are interdependent, suggesting that training on tasks requiring coordinated effort of both the upper arm and hand may be a more effective method for improving recovery of real world function. However, most robotic therapies have focused on training the proximal, rather than distal effectors of the upper extremity. This paper describes the effects of robotically-assisted, integrated upper extremity training. Twelve subjects post-stroke were trained for eight days on four upper extremity gaming simulations using adaptive robots during 2-3 hour sessions. The subjects demonstrated improved proximal stability, smoothness and efficiency of the movement path. This was in concert with improvement in the distal kinematic measures of finger individuation and improved speed. Importantly, these changes were accompanied by a robust 16-second decrease in overall time in the Wolf Motor Function Test and a 24-second decrease in the Jebsen Test of Hand Function. Complex gaming simulations interfaced with adaptive robots requiring integrated control of shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist and finger movements appear to have a substantial effect on improving hemiparetic hand function. We believe that the magnitude of the changes and the stability of the patient's function prior to training, along with maintenance of several aspects of the gains demonstrated at retention make a compelling argument for this approach to training.

Robotically facilitated virtual rehabilitation of arm transport integrated with finger movement in persons with hemiparesis

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Recovery of upper extremity function is particularly recalcitrant to successful rehabilitation. Robotic-assisted arm training devices integrated with virtual targets or complex virtual reality gaming simulations are being developed to deal with this problem. Neural control mechanisms indicate that reaching and hand-object manipulation are interdependent, suggesting that training on tasks requiring coordinated effort of both the upper arm and hand may be a more effective method for improving recovery of real world function. However, most robotic therapies have focused on training the proximal, rather than distal effectors of the upper extremity. This paper describes the effects of robotically-assisted, integrated upper extremity training. Methods Twelve subjects post-stroke were trained for eight days on four upper extremity gaming simulations using adaptive robots during 2-3 hour sessions. Results The subjects demonstrated improved proximal stability, smoothness and efficiency of the movement path. This was in concert with improvement in the distal kinematic measures of finger individuation and improved speed. Importantly, these changes were accompanied by a robust 16-second decrease in overall time in the Wolf Motor Function Test and a 24-second decrease in the Jebsen Test of Hand Function. Conclusions Complex gaming simulations interfaced with adaptive robots requiring integrated control of shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist and finger movements appear to have a substantial effect on improving hemiparetic hand function. We believe that the magnitude of the changes and the stability of the patient's function prior to training, along with maintenance of several aspects of the gains demonstrated at retention make a compelling argument for this approach to training. PMID:21575185

Ladies And Gentlemen, Boot Your Robots!

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-01-14

Known as Clyde, RoboSimian is an an ape-like robot designed and built at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Ca. The robot is four-footed but can also stand on two feet. It has four general-purpose limbs and hands capable of mobility and manipulation.

A Dynamic Non Energy Storing Guidance Constraint with Motion Redirection for Robot Assisted Surgery

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

Abstract— Haptically enabled hands-on or tele-operated surgical robotic systems provide a unique opportunity to integrate pre- and intra... robot -assisted surgical systems aim at improving and extending human capabilities, by exploiting the advantages of robotic systems while keeping the...move during the operation. Robot -assisted beating heart surgery is an example of procedures that can benefit from dynamic constraints. Their

Robot Rocket Rally

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-14

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A visitor to the Robot Rocket Rally tries his hand at virtual reality in a demonstration of the Oculus Rift technology, provided by the Open Source Robotics Foundation. The three-day event at Florida's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is highlighted by exhibits, games and demonstrations of a variety of robots, with exhibitors ranging from school robotics clubs to veteran NASA scientists and engineers. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Elastic Inflatable Actuators for Soft Robotic Applications.

PubMed

Gorissen, Benjamin; Reynaerts, Dominiek; Konishi, Satoshi; Yoshida, Kazuhiro; Kim, Joon-Wan; De Volder, Michael

2017-11-01

The 20th century's robotic systems have been made from stiff materials, and much of the developments have pursued ever more accurate and dynamic robots, which thrive in industrial automation, and will probably continue to do so for decades to come. However, the 21st century's robotic legacy may very well become that of soft robots. This emerging domain is characterized by continuous soft structures that simultaneously fulfill the role of robotic link and actuator, where prime focus is on design and fabrication of robotic hardware instead of software control. These robots are anticipated to take a prominent role in delicate tasks where classic robots fail, such as in minimally invasive surgery, active prosthetics, and automation tasks involving delicate irregular objects. Central to the development of these robots is the fabrication of soft actuators. This article reviews a particularly attractive type of soft actuators that are driven by pressurized fluids. These actuators have recently gained traction on the one hand due to the technology push from better simulation tools and new manufacturing technologies, and on the other hand by a market pull from applications. This paper provides an overview of the different advanced soft actuator configurations, their design, fabrication, and applications. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Methodology for designing and manufacturing complex biologically inspired soft robotic fluidic actuators: prosthetic hand case study.

PubMed

Thompson-Bean, E; Das, R; McDaid, A

2016-10-31

We present a novel methodology for the design and manufacture of complex biologically inspired soft robotic fluidic actuators. The methodology is applied to the design and manufacture of a prosthetic for the hand. Real human hands are scanned to produce a 3D model of a finger, and pneumatic networks are implemented within it to produce a biomimetic bending motion. The finger is then partitioned into material sections, and a genetic algorithm based optimization, using finite element analysis, is employed to discover the optimal material for each section. This is based on two biomimetic performance criteria. Two sets of optimizations using two material sets are performed. Promising optimized material arrangements are fabricated using two techniques to validate the optimization routine, and the fabricated and simulated results are compared. We find that the optimization is successful in producing biomimetic soft robotic fingers and that fabrication of the fingers is possible. Limitations and paths for development are discussed. This methodology can be applied for other fluidic soft robotic devices.

Feasibility study of a hand guided robotic drill for cochleostomy.

PubMed

Brett, Peter; Du, Xinli; Zoka-Assadi, Masoud; Coulson, Chris; Reid, Andrew; Proops, David

2014-01-01

The concept of a hand guided robotic drill has been inspired by an automated, arm supported robotic drill recently applied in clinical practice to produce cochleostomies without penetrating the endosteum ready for inserting cochlear electrodes. The smart tactile sensing scheme within the drill enables precise control of the state of interaction between tissues and tools in real-time. This paper reports development studies of the hand guided robotic drill where the same consistent outcomes, augmentation of surgeon control and skill, and similar reduction of induced disturbances on the hearing organ are achieved. The device operates with differing presentation of tissues resulting from variation in anatomy and demonstrates the ability to control or avoid penetration of tissue layers as required and to respond to intended rather than involuntary motion of the surgeon operator. The advantage of hand guided over an arm supported system is that it offers flexibility in adjusting the drilling trajectory. This can be important to initiate cutting on a hard convex tissue surface without slipping and then to proceed on the desired trajectory after cutting has commenced. The results for trials on phantoms show that drill unit compliance is an important factor in the design.

Starting a Robotics Program in Your County

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Habib, Maria A.

2012-01-01

The current mission mandates of the National 4-H Headquarters are Citizenship, Healthy Living, and Science. Robotics programs are excellent in fulfilling the Science mandate. Robotics engages students in STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics) fields by providing interactive, hands-on, minds-on, cross-disciplinary learning…

Indirect hand and forearm vasomotion: Regional variations in cutaneous thermosensitivity during normothermia and mild hyperthermia.

PubMed

Burdon, Catriona A; Tagami, Kyoko; Park, Joonhee; Caldwell, Joanne N; Taylor, Nigel A S

2017-04-01

In this experiment, hand and forearm vasomotor activity was investigated during localised, but stable heating and cooling of the face, hand and thigh, under open-loop (clamped) conditions. It was hypothesised that facial stimulation would provoke the most potent vascular changes. Nine individuals participated in two normothermic trials (mean body temperature clamp: 36.6°C; water-perfused suit and climate chamber) and two mildly hyperthermic trials (37.9°C). Localised heating (+5°C) and cooling (-5°C) stimuli were applied to equal surface areas of the face, hand and thigh (perfusion patches: 15min), while contralateral forearm or hand blood flows (venous-occlusion plethysmography) were measured (separate trials). Thermal sensation and discomfort votes were recorded before and during each thermal stimulation. When hyperthermic, local heating induced more sensitive vascular responses, with the combined thermosensitivity of both limb segments averaging 0.011mL·100mL -1 ·min -1 ·mmHg -1 ·°C -1 , and 0.005mL·100mL -1 ·min -1 ·mmHg -1 ·°C -1 during localised cooling (P<0.05). Inter-site comparisons among the stimulated sites yielded minimal evidence of variations in local thermal sensation, and no differences were observed for vascular conductance (P>0.05). Therefore, regional differences in vasomotor and sensory sensitivity appeared not to exist. When combined with previous observations of sudomotor sensitivity, it seems that, during mild heating and cooling, regional representations within the somatosensory cortex may not translate into meaningful differences in thermal sensation or the central integration of thermoafferent signals. It was concluded that inter-site variations in the cutaneous thermosensitivity of these thermolytic effectors have minimal physiological significance over the ranges investigated thus far. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving Cognitive Skills of the Industrial Robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bezák, Pavol

2015-08-01

At present, there are plenty of industrial robots that are programmed to do the same repetitive task all the time. Industrial robots doing such kind of job are not able to understand whether the action is correct, effective or good. Object detection, manipulation and grasping is challenging due to the hand and object modeling uncertainties, unknown contact type and object stiffness properties. In this paper, the proposal of an intelligent humanoid hand object detection and grasping model is presented assuming that the object properties are known. The control is simulated in the Matlab Simulink/ SimMechanics, Neural Network Toolbox and Computer Vision System Toolbox.

EXOS research on master controllers for robotic devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marcus, Beth A.; An, Ben; Eberman, Brian

1992-01-01

Two projects are currently being conducted by EXOS under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program with NASA. One project will develop a force feedback device for controlling robot hands, the other will develop an elbow and shoulder exoskeleton which can be integrated with other EXOS devices to provide whole robot arm and hand control. Aspects covered are the project objectives, important research issues which have arisen during the developments, and interim results of the projects. The Phase 1 projects currently underway will result in hardware prototypes and identification of research issues required for complete system development and/or integration.

System description document for the Anthrobot-2: A dexterous robot hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ali, Michael S.; Engler, Charles, Jr.

1991-01-01

The Anthrobot-2 is an anatomically correct, fully functioning robot hand. The number of fingers, the proportions of the links, the placement and motion of the thumb, and the shape of the palm follow those of the human hand. Each of the finger and thumb joints are servo-controlled. The Anthrobot-2 also includes a two-degree-of-freedom wrist. The entire package, including wrist, hand, and actuators, will mount on the ends of a variety of industrial manipulators. A patent has been applied for on the design. The Anthrobot-2 will be useful in tasks where dexterous manipulation or telemanipulation are required.

A bio-inspired design of a hand robotic exoskeleton for rehabilitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ong, Aira Patrice R.; Bugtai, Nilo T.

2018-02-01

This paper presents the methodology for the design of a five-degree of freedom wearable robotic exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation. The design is inspired by the biological structure and mechanism of the human hand. One of the distinct features of the device is the cable-driven actuation, which provides the flexion and extension motion. A prototype of the orthotic device has been developed to prove the model of the system and has been tested in a 3D printed mechanical hand. The result showed that the proposed device was consistent with the requirements of bionics and was able to demonstrate the flexion and extension of the system.

Adapting proportional myoelectric-controlled interfaces for prosthetic hands.

PubMed

Pistohl, Tobias; Cipriani, Christian; Jackson, Andrew; Nazarpour, Kianoush

2013-01-01

Powered hand prostheses with many degrees of freedom are moving from research into the market for prosthetics. In order to make use of the prostheses' full functionality, it is essential to find efficient ways to control their multiple actuators. Human subjects can rapidly learn to employ electromyographic (EMG) activity of several hand and arm muscles to control the position of a cursor on a computer screen, even if the muscle-cursor map contradicts directions in which the muscles would act naturally. We investigated whether a similar control scheme, using signals from four hand muscles, could be adopted for real-time operation of a dexterous robotic hand. Despite different mapping strategies, learning to control the robotic hand over time was surprisingly similar to the learning of two-dimensional cursor control.

Neural architectures for robot intelligence.

PubMed

Ritter, H; Steil, J J; Nölker, C; Röthling, F; McGuire, P

2003-01-01

We argue that direct experimental approaches to elucidate the architecture of higher brains may benefit from insights gained from exploring the possibilities and limits of artificial control architectures for robot systems. We present some of our recent work that has been motivated by that view and that is centered around the study of various aspects of hand actions since these are intimately linked with many higher cognitive abilities. As examples, we report on the development of a modular system for the recognition of continuous hand postures based on neural nets, the use of vision and tactile sensing for guiding prehensile movements of a multifingered hand, and the recognition and use of hand gestures for robot teaching. Regarding the issue of learning, we propose to view real-world learning from the perspective of data-mining and to focus more strongly on the imitation of observed actions instead of purely reinforcement-based exploration. As a concrete example of such an effort we report on the status of an ongoing project in our laboratory in which a robot equipped with an attention system with a neurally inspired architecture is taught actions by using hand gestures in conjunction with speech commands. We point out some of the lessons learnt from this system, and discuss how systems of this kind can contribute to the study of issues at the junction between natural and artificial cognitive systems.

Vision Algorithms to Determine Shape and Distance for Manipulation of Unmodeled Objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montes, Leticia; Bowers, David; Lumia, Ron

1998-01-01

This paper discusses the development of a robotic system for general use in an unstructured environment. This is illustrated through pick and place of randomly positioned, un-modeled objects. There are many applications for this project, including rock collection for the Mars Surveyor Program. This system is demonstrated with a Puma560 robot, Barrett hand, Cognex vision system, and Cimetrix simulation and control, all running on a PC. The demonstration consists of two processes: vision system and robotics. The vision system determines the size and location of the unknown objects. The robotics part consists of moving the robot to the object, configuring the hand based on the information from the vision system, then performing the pick/place operation. This work enhances and is a part of the Low Cost Virtual Collaborative Environment which provides remote simulation and control of equipment.

Neural manual vs. robotic assisted mobilization to improve motion and reduce pain hypersensitivity in hand osteoarthritis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Villafañe, Jorge Hugo; Valdes, Kristin; Imperio, Grace; Borboni, Alberto; Cantero-Téllez, Raquel; Galeri, Silvia; Negrini, Stefano

2017-05-01

[Purpose] The aim of the present study is to detail the protocol for a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of neural manual vs. robotic assisted on pain in sensitivity as well as analyse the quantitative and qualitative movement of hand in subjects with hand osteoarthritis. [Subjects and Methods] Seventy-two patients, aged 50 to 90 years old of both genders, with a diagnosis of hand Osteoarthritis (OA), will be recruited. Two groups of 36 participants will receive an experimental intervention (neurodynamic mobilization intervention plus exercise) or a control intervention (robotic assisted passive mobilization plus exercise) for 12 sessions over 4 weeks. Assessment points will be at baseline, end of therapy, and 1 and 3 months after end of therapy. The outcomes of this intervention will be pain and determine the central pain processing mechanisms. [Result] Not applicable. [Conclusion] If there is a reduction in pain hypersensitivity in hand OA patients it can suggest that supraspinal pain-inhibitory areas, including the periaqueductal gray matter, can be stimulated by joint mobilization.

A Pneumatic Tactile Sensor for Co-Operative Robots

PubMed Central

He, Rui; Yu, Jianjun; Zuo, Guoyu

2017-01-01

Tactile sensors of comprehensive functions are urgently needed for the advanced robot to co-exist and co-operate with human beings. Pneumatic tactile sensors based on air bladder possess some noticeable advantages for human-robot interaction application. In this paper, we construct a pneumatic tactile sensor and apply it on the fingertip of robot hand to realize the sensing of force, vibration and slippage via the change of the pressure of the air bladder, and we utilize the sensor to perceive the object’s features such as softness and roughness. The pneumatic tactile sensor has good linearity, repeatability and low hysteresis and both its size and sensing range can be customized by using different material as well as different thicknesses of the air bladder. It is also simple and cheap to fabricate. Therefore, the pneumatic tactile sensor is suitable for the application of co-operative robots and can be widely utilized to improve the performance of service robots. We can apply it to the fingertip of the robot to endow the robotic hand with the ability to co-operate with humans and handle the fragile objects because of the inherent compliance of the air bladder. PMID:29125565

Education by Robot!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cobb, Cheryl

2004-01-01

This article describes BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology), a hands-on robotics program founded by Texas Instruments engineers Ted Mahler and Steve Marum. BEST links educators with industry to provide middle and high school students with a peek into the exciting world of robotics, with the goal of inspiring and interesting…

A novel cluster-tube self-adaptive robot hand.

PubMed

Fu, Hong; Yang, Haokun; Song, Weishu; Zhang, Wenzeng

2017-01-01

This paper proposes a novel cluster-tube self-adaptive robot hand (CTSA Hand). The CTSA Hand consists of a base, a motor, a transmission mechanism, multiple elastic tendons, and a group of sliding-tube assemblies. Each sliding-tube assembly is composed of a sliding tube, a guide rod, two springs and a hinge. When the hand grasping an object, the object pushes some sliding tubes to different positions according to the surface shape of the object, the motor pulls the tendons tight to cluster tubes. The CTSA Hand can realize self-adaptive grasping of objects of different sizes and shapes. The CTSA Hand can grasp multiple objects simultaneously because the grasping of the hand acts as many grippers in different directions and heights. The grasping forces of the hand are adjusted by a closed-loop control system with potentiometer. Experimental results show that the CTSA Hand has the features of highly self-adaption and large grasping forces when grasping various objects.

Pre-shaping of the Fingertip of Robot Hand Covered with Net Structure Proximity Sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Kenji; Suzuki, Yosuke; Hasegawa, Hiroaki; Ming, Aiguo; Ishikawa, Masatoshi; Shimojo, Makoto

To achieve skillful tasks with multi-fingered robot hands, many researchers have been working on sensor-based control of them. Vision sensors and tactile sensors are indispensable for the tasks, however, the correctness of the information from the vision sensors decreases as a robot hand approaches to a grasping object because of occlusion. This research aims to achieve seamless detection for reliable grasp by use of proximity sensors: correcting the positional error of the hand in vision-based approach, and contacting the fingertip in the posture for effective tactile sensing. In this paper, we propose a method for adjusting the posture of the fingertip to the surface of the object. The method applies “Net-Structure Proximity Sensor” on the fingertip, which can detect the postural error in the roll and pitch axes between the fingertip and the object surface. The experimental result shows that the postural error is corrected in the both axes even if the object dynamically rotates.

Robotics Technician Training at Macomb Community College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, Edward J.

Approved in 1979, the robotics technician training program at Macomb County Community College (MCC) in Warren (Michigan) provides students with training in hydraulics and electronics as well as with hands-on training in the area of robotics. Furthermore, the program faculty includes individuals with work experience in electronics, fluid power, and…

Fast and robust curve skeletonization for real-world elongated objects

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

These datasets were generated for calibrating robot-camera systems. In an extension, we also considered the problem of calibrating robots with more than one camera. These datasets are provided as a companion to the paper, "Solving the Robot-World Hand-Eye(s) Calibration Problem with Iterative Meth...

Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robotics Using "Lego Mindstorms" NXT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akin, H. Levent; Meriçli, Çetin; Meriçli, Tekin

2013-01-01

Teaching the fundamentals of robotics to computer science undergraduates requires designing a well-balanced curriculum that is complemented with hands-on applications on a platform that allows rapid construction of complex robots, and implementation of sophisticated algorithms. This paper describes such an elective introductory course where the…

Microrobotics for future gastrointestinal endoscopy.

PubMed

Menciassi, Arianna; Quirini, Marco; Dario, Paolo

2007-01-01

The impulse given by robotic technologies and imaging techniques to the development of a new way to conceive and perform surgery is clearly visible. Nowadays, minimally invasive surgical (MIS) procedures are often performed with the assistance of robots, such as the Da Vinci master-slave system, the AESOP robot with voice control, etc. In addition, mechatronic technologies are becoming the elective technologies for designing advanced hand-held surgical tools. The introduction of robotic technologies in endoscopy has been slower than in MIS, since the development of miniaturized robotic components for entering the small orifices of the human body is difficult. On the other hand, the large contribution that robotic technologies could bring to endoluminal techniques has been evident since the first development of instrumented catheters. In the 1990s, there was an increasing activity in the application of robotic technologies to improve endoscopic procedures in the gastrointestinal tract. The objective of robotic colonoscopy and gastroscopy was to obtain more effective diagnoses in terms of reduced pain for the patients, and to make uniform the diagnostic procedures, which too often depended on the manual abilities of the endoscopist. Currently, the availability of more reliable robotic technologies for miniaturization of size and integration of functions has allowed to conceive and develop robotic pills for the early screening of the digestive tract, with dramatic potential advantages for patients, endoscopists, and healthcare system.

Space robotics--DLR's telerobotic concepts, lightweight arms and articulated hands.

PubMed

Hirzinger, G; Brunner, B; Landzettel, K; Sporer, N; Butterfass, J; Schedl, M

2003-01-01

The paper briefly outlines DLR's experience with real space robot missions (ROTEX and ETS VII). It then discusses forthcoming projects, e.g., free-flying systems in low or geostationary orbit and robot systems around the space station ISS, where the telerobotic system MARCO might represent a common baseline. Finally it describes our efforts in developing a new generation of "mechatronic" ultra-light weight arms with multifingered hands. The third arm generation is operable now (approaching present-day technical limits). In a similar way DLR's four-fingered hand II was a big step towards higher reliability and yet better performance. Artificial robonauts for space are a central goal now for the Europeans as well as for NASA, and the first verification tests of DLR's joint components are supposed to fly already end of 93 on the space station.

Development of Tremor Suppression Control System Using Adaptive Filter and Its Application to Meal-assist Robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yano, Ken'ichi; Ohara, Eiichi; Horihata, Satoshi; Aoki, Takaaki; Nishimoto, Yutaka

A robot that supports independent living by assisting with eating and other activities which use the operator's own hand would be helpful for people suffering from tremors of the hand or any other body part. The proposed system using adaptive filter estimates tremor frequencies with a time-varying property and individual differences online. In this study, the estimated frequency is used to adjusting the tremor suppression filter which insulates the voluntary motion signal from the sensor signal containing tremor components. These system are integrated into the control system of the Meal-Assist Robot. As a result, the developed system makes it possible for the person with a tremor to manipulate the supporting robot without causing operability to deteriorate and without hazards due to improper operation.

Using robots in "Hands-on" academic activities: a case study examining speech-generating device use and required skills.

PubMed

Adams, Kim; Cook, Al

2016-01-01

A 12-year-old girl, Emily, with complex communication needs and severe physical limitations, controlled a Lego robot from a speech-generating device (SGD) to do various "hands-on" academic activities. Emily's teacher and assistive technology (AT) team thought that controlling a robot would motivate Emily to "use her SGD more". A descriptive case study was used because the integration of communication and manipulation technologies is not yet understood. Target activities and goals were chosen by Emily's teacher and AT team. Emily performed several manipulative math activities and engaged in an "acting" activity aimed at increasing her message length. The competency skills needed to control a robot from the SGD were examined, as well as stakeholder satisfaction with the robot system. Emily generated up to 0.4 communication events and 7 robot commands per minute in the activities. Her length of utterance was usually one-word long, but she generated two- and three-word utterances during some activities. Observations of Emily informed a framework to describe the competency skills needed to use SGDs to control robots. Emily and her teacher expressed satisfaction with robot use. Robot use could motivate students to build SGD operational skills and learn educational concepts. Implications for Rehabilitation Controlling a robot from a speech-generating device (SGD) could increase students' motivation, engagement and understanding in learning educational concepts, because of the hands-on enactive approach. The robot and SGD system was acceptable to the participant and teacher and elicited positive comments from classmates. Thus, it may provide a way for children with disabilities to link with the curriculum and with other students in the classroom. Controlling a robot via SGD presents opportunities to improve augmentative and alternative communication operational, linguistic, social and strategic skills. Careful choice of activities will ensure that the activity requirements focus on the desired target skill, e.g. drawing or playing board games could be helpful to build operational skills and acting out stories could be helpful for building linguistic skills.

Physiological and subjective evaluation of a human-robot object hand-over task.

PubMed

Dehais, Frédéric; Sisbot, Emrah Akin; Alami, Rachid; Causse, Mickaël

2011-11-01

In the context of task sharing between a robot companion and its human partners, the notions of safe and compliant hardware are not enough. It is necessary to guarantee ergonomic robot motions. Therefore, we have developed Human Aware Manipulation Planner (Sisbot et al., 2010), a motion planner specifically designed for human-robot object transfer by explicitly taking into account the legibility, the safety and the physical comfort of robot motions. The main objective of this research was to define precise subjective metrics to assess our planner when a human interacts with a robot in an object hand-over task. A second objective was to obtain quantitative data to evaluate the effect of this interaction. Given the short duration, the "relative ease" of the object hand-over task and its qualitative component, classical behavioral measures based on accuracy or reaction time were unsuitable to compare our gestures. In this perspective, we selected three measurements based on the galvanic skin conductance response, the deltoid muscle activity and the ocular activity. To test our assumptions and validate our planner, an experimental set-up involving Jido, a mobile manipulator robot, and a seated human was proposed. For the purpose of the experiment, we have defined three motions that combine different levels of legibility, safety and physical comfort values. After each robot gesture the participants were asked to rate them on a three dimensional subjective scale. It has appeared that the subjective data were in favor of our reference motion. Eventually the three motions elicited different physiological and ocular responses that could be used to partially discriminate them. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and the Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

An instrumented glove for grasp specification in virtual-reality-based point-and-direct telerobotics.

PubMed

Yun, M H; Cannon, D; Freivalds, A; Thomas, G

1997-10-01

Hand posture and force, which define aspects of the way an object is grasped, are features of robotic manipulation. A means for specifying these grasping "flavors" has been developed that uses an instrumented glove equipped with joint and force sensors. The new grasp specification system will be used at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in a Virtual Reality based Point-and-Direct (VR-PAD) robotics implementation. Here, an operator gives directives to a robot in the same natural way that human may direct another. Phrases such as "put that there" cause the robot to define a grasping strategy and motion strategy to complete the task on its own. In the VR-PAD concept, pointing is done using virtual tools such that an operator can appear to graphically grasp real items in live video. Rather than requiring full duplication of forces and kinesthetic movement throughout a task as is required in manual telemanipulation, hand posture and force are now specified only once. The grasp parameters then become object flavors. The robot maintains the specified force and hand posture flavors for an object throughout the task in handling the real workpiece or item of interest. In the Computer integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Laboratory at Penn State, hand posture and force data were collected for manipulating bricks and other items that require varying amounts of force at multiple pressure points. The feasibility of measuring desired grasp characteristics was demonstrated for a modified Cyberglove impregnated with Force-Sensitive Resistor (FSR) (pressure sensors in the fingertips. A joint/force model relating the parameters of finger articulation and pressure to various lifting tasks was validated for the instrumented "wired" glove. Operators using such a modified glove may ultimately be able to configure robot grasping tasks in environments involving hazardous waste remediation, flexible manufacturing, space operations and other flexible robotics applications. In each case, the VR-PAD approach will finesse the computational and delay problems of real-time multiple-degree-of-freedom force feedback telemanipulation.

Experiments and kinematics analysis of a hand rehabilitation exoskeleton with circuitous joints.

PubMed

Zhang, Fuhai; Fu, Yili; Zhang, Qinchao; Wang, Shuguo

2015-01-01

Aiming at the hand rehabilitation of stroke patients, a wearable hand exoskeleton with circuitous joint is proposed. The circuitous joint adopts the symmetric pinion and rack mechanism (SPRM) with the parallel mechanism. The exoskeleton finger is a serial mechanism composed of three closed-chain SPRM joints in series. The kinematic equations of the open chain of the finger and the closed chains of the SPRM joints were built to analyze the kinematics of the hand rehabilitation exoskeleton. The experimental setup of the hand rehabilitation exoskeleton was built and the continuous passive motion (CPM) rehabilitation experiment and the test of human-robot interaction force measurement were conducted. Experiment results show that the mechanical design of the hand rehabilitation robot is reasonable and that the kinematic analysis is correct, thus the exoskeleton can be used for the hand rehabilitation of stroke patients.

Autonomous dexterous end-effectors for space robotics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bekey, George A.; Iberall, Thea; Liu, Huan

1989-01-01

The development of a knowledge-based controller is summarized for the Belgrade/USC robot hand, a five-fingered end effector, designed for maximum autonomy. The biological principles of the hand and its architecture are presented. The conceptual and software aspects of the grasp selection system are discussed, including both the effects of the geometry of the target object and the task to be performed. Some current research issues are presented.

Kinematics and force analysis of a robot hand based on an artificial biological control scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Man Guen

An artificial biological control scheme (ABCS) is used to study the kinematics and statics of a multifingered hand with a view to developing an efficient control scheme for grasping. The ABCS is based on observation of human grasping, intuitively taking it as the optimum model for robotic grasping. A final chapter proposes several grasping measures to be applied to the design and control of a robot hand. The ABCS leads to the definition of two modes of the grasping action: natural grasping (NG), which is the human motion to grasp the object without any special task command, and forced grasping (FG), which is the motion with a specific task. The grasping direction line (GDL) is defined to determine the position and orientation of the object in the hand. The kinematic model of a redundant robot arm and hand is developed by reconstructing the human upper extremity and using anthropometric measurement data. The inverse kinematic analyses of various types of precision and power grasping are studied by replacing the three-link with one virtual link and using the GDL. The static force analysis for grasping with fingertips is studied by applying the ABCS. A measure of grasping stability, that maintains the positions of contacts as well as the configurations of the redundant fingers, is derived. The grasping stability measure (GSM), a measure of how well the hand maintains grasping under the existence of external disturbance, is derived by the torque vector of the hand calculated from the external force applied to the object. The grasping manipulability measure (GMM), a measure of how well the hand manipulates the object for the task, is derived by the joint velocity vector of the hand calculated from the object velocity. The grasping performance measure (GPM) is defined by the sum of the directional components of the GSM and the GMM. Finally, a planar redundant hand with two fingers is examined in order to study the various postures of the hand performing pinch grasping by applying the GSM and the GMM.

Robotic investigation on effect of stretch reflex and crossed inhibitory response on bipedal hopping

PubMed Central

Rosendo, Andre; Ikemoto, Shuhei; Shimizu, Masahiro; Hosoda, Koh

2018-01-01

To maintain balance during dynamic locomotion, the effects of proprioceptive sensory feedback control (e.g. reflexive control) should not be ignored because of its simple sensation and fast reaction time. Scientists have identified the pathways of reflexes; however, it is difficult to investigate their effects during locomotion because locomotion is controlled by a complex neural system and current technology does not allow us to change the control pathways in living humans. To understand these effects, we construct a musculoskeletal bipedal robot, which has similar body structure and dynamics to those of a human. By conducting experiments on this robot, we investigate the effects of reflexes (stretch reflex and crossed inhibitory response) on posture during hopping, a simple and representative bouncing gait with complex dynamics. Through over 300 hopping trials, we confirm that both the stretch reflex and crossed response can contribute to reducing the lateral inclination during hopping. These reflexive pathways do not use any prior knowledge of the dynamic information of the body such as its inclination. Beyond improving the understanding of the human neural system, this study provides roboticists with biomimetic ideas for robot locomotion control. PMID:29593088

Analysis of relative displacement between the HX wearable robotic exoskeleton and the user's hand.

PubMed

Cempini, Marco; Marzegan, Alberto; Rabuffetti, Marco; Cortese, Mario; Vitiello, Nicola; Ferrarin, Maurizio

2014-10-18

Advances in technology are allowing for the production of several viable wearable robotic devices to assist with activities of daily living and with rehabilitation. One of the most pressing limitations to user satisfaction is the lack of consistency in motion between the user and the robotic device. The displacement between the robot and the body segment may not correspond because of differences in skin and tissue compliance, mechanical backlash, and/or incorrect fit. This report presents the results of an analysis of relative displacement between the user's hand and a wearable exoskeleton, the HX. HX has been designed to maximize comfort, wearability and user safety, exploiting chains with multiple degrees-of-freedom with a modular architecture. These appealing features may introduce several uncertainties in the kinematic performances, especially when considering the anthropometry, morphology and degree of mobility of the human hand. The small relative displacements between the hand and the exoskeleton were measured with a video-based motion capture system, while the user executed several different grips in different exoskeleton modes. The analysis furnished quantitative results about the device performance, differentiated among device modules and test conditions. In general, the global relative displacement for the distal part of the device was in the range 0.5-1.5 mm, while within 3 mm (worse but still acceptable) for displacements nearest to the hand dorsum. Conclusions over the HX design principles have been drawn, as well as guidelines for future developments.

Compact Tactile Sensors for Robot Fingers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, Toby B.; Lussy, David; Gaudiano, Frank; Hulse, Aaron; Diftler, Myron A.; Rodriguez, Dagoberto; Bielski, Paul; Butzer, Melisa

2004-01-01

Compact transducer arrays that measure spatial distributions of force or pressure have been demonstrated as prototypes of tactile sensors to be mounted on fingers and palms of dexterous robot hands. The pressure- or force-distribution feedback provided by these sensors is essential for the further development and implementation of robot-control capabilities for humanlike grasping and manipulation.

Lego Robotics: STEM Sport of the Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gura, Mark

2012-01-01

Lego robotics is engaging, hands-on, and encompasses every one of the NETS for Students. It also inspires a love of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and provides the experience students need to use digital age skills in the real world. In this article, the author discusses how schools get involved with Lego Robotics and…

Tendon Driven Finger Actuation System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ihrke, Chris A. (Inventor); Reich, David M. (Inventor); Bridgwater, Lyndon (Inventor); Linn, Douglas Martin (Inventor); Askew, Scott R. (Inventor); Diftler, Myron A. (Inventor); Platt, Robert (Inventor); Hargrave, Brian (Inventor); Valvo, Michael C. (Inventor); Abdallah, Muhammad E. (Inventor);

Object-based task-level control: A hierarchical control architecture for remote operation of space robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevens, H. D.; Miles, E. S.; Rock, S. J.; Cannon, R. H.

1994-01-01

Expanding man's presence in space requires capable, dexterous robots capable of being controlled from the Earth. Traditional 'hand-in-glove' control paradigms require the human operator to directly control virtually every aspect of the robot's operation. While the human provides excellent judgment and perception, human interaction is limited by low bandwidth, delayed communications. These delays make 'hand-in-glove' operation from Earth impractical. In order to alleviate many of the problems inherent to remote operation, Stanford University's Aerospace Robotics Laboratory (ARL) has developed the Object-Based Task-Level Control architecture. Object-Based Task-Level Control (OBTLC) removes the burden of teleoperation from the human operator and enables execution of tasks not possible with current techniques. OBTLC is a hierarchical approach to control where the human operator is able to specify high-level, object-related tasks through an intuitive graphical user interface. Infrequent task-level command replace constant joystick operations, eliminating communications bandwidth and time delay problems. The details of robot control and task execution are handled entirely by the robot and computer control system. The ARL has implemented the OBTLC architecture on a set of Free-Flying Space Robots. The capability of the OBTLC architecture has been demonstrated by controlling the ARL Free-Flying Space Robots from NASA Ames Research Center.

The magic glove: a gesture-based remote controller for intelligent mobile robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Chaomin; Chen, Yue; Krishnan, Mohan; Paulik, Mark

2012-01-01

This paper describes the design of a gesture-based Human Robot Interface (HRI) for an autonomous mobile robot entered in the 2010 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC). While the robot is meant to operate autonomously in the various Challenges of the competition, an HRI is useful in moving the robot to the starting position and after run termination. In this paper, a user-friendly gesture-based embedded system called the Magic Glove is developed for remote control of a robot. The system consists of a microcontroller and sensors that is worn by the operator as a glove and is capable of recognizing hand signals. These are then transmitted through wireless communication to the robot. The design of the Magic Glove included contributions on two fronts: hardware configuration and algorithm development. A triple axis accelerometer used to detect hand orientation passes the information to a microcontroller, which interprets the corresponding vehicle control command. A Bluetooth device interfaced to the microcontroller then transmits the information to the vehicle, which acts accordingly. The user-friendly Magic Glove was successfully demonstrated first in a Player/Stage simulation environment. The gesture-based functionality was then also successfully verified on an actual robot and demonstrated to judges at the 2010 IGVC.

Periodic Visuotactile Stimulation Slowly Enhances the Rubber Hand Illusion in Individuals with High Autistic Traits

PubMed Central

Ide, Masakazu; Wada, Makoto

2016-01-01

In a rubber hand illusion (RHI) task, synchronous brush stroking of a rubber hand and a participant's hidden hand induces body ownership of the rubber hand. The effects of spatial distances and temporal lags on the RHI have been extensively examined; however, the effect of periodicity of the stimuli on illusory body ownership has not been examined. Meanwhile, the occurrence of RHI tends to be weak in individuals with autism-spectrum disorders (ASD) and high autistic traits. Preference for stimulus having regularity of tempo is generally observed in individuals with ASD, and thus, periodic stimulation might be more effective to elicit the body ownership illusion in individuals with high autistic traits. Hence, we investigated whether stimulus periodicity influenced RHI as well as its association with participant's autistic traits. Brush strokes were applied to a participant's own hand and the rubber hand periodically (2 s) or non-periodically (1–3 s), either synchronously or asynchronously. Two blocks were performed in each condition. We found that periodic stimulation enhanced the spatial updating of tactile sensation induced by RHI in the subsequent block in participants with high autistic traits, whereas both periodic and non-periodic stimulation strongly elicited RHI in blocks 1 and 2. These results indicate that the periodicity of stimulation has different effects based on an individual's autistic traits. Since individuals with ASD are known to sustain their focus on interoceptive sensations (heartbeats), a periodic stimulation that is potentially correlated with heartbeats might be effective to enhance the visuotactile integration during RHI in individuals with high autistic traits. PMID:27375441

Learning in robotic manipulation: The role of dimensionality reduction in policy search methods. Comment on "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by Marco Santello et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ficuciello, Fanny; Siciliano, Bruno

2016-07-01

A question that often arises, among researchers working on artificial hands and robotic manipulation, concerns the real meaning of synergies. Namely, are they a realistic representation of the central nervous system control of manipulation activities at different levels and of the sensory-motor manipulation apparatus of the human being, or do they constitute just a theoretical framework exploiting analytical methods to simplify the representation of grasping and manipulation activities? Apparently, this is not a simple question to answer and, in this regard, many minds from the field of neuroscience and robotics are addressing the issue [1]. The interest of robotics is definitely oriented towards the adoption of synergies to tackle the control problem of devices with high number of degrees of freedom (DoFs) which are required to achieve motor and learning skills comparable to those of humans. The synergy concept is useful for innovative underactuated design of anthropomorphic hands [2], while the resulting dimensionality reduction simplifies the control of biomedical devices such as myoelectric hand prostheses [3]. Synergies might also be useful in conjunction with the learning process [4]. This aspect is less explored since few works on synergy-based learning have been realized in robotics. In learning new tasks through trial-and-error, physical interaction is important. On the other hand, advanced mechanical designs such as tendon-driven actuation, underactuated compliant mechanisms and hyper-redundant/continuum robots might exhibit enhanced capabilities of adapting to changing environments and learning from exploration. In particular, high DoFs and compliance increase the complexity of modelling and control of these devices. An analytical approach to manipulation planning requires a precise model of the object, an accurate description of the task, and an evaluation of the object affordance, which all make the process rather time consuming. The integration of learning into control naturally leads to relaxing the above requirements through the adoption of coordinated motion patterns and sensory-motor synergies as useful tools leading to a problem of reduced dimension. To this purpose, model-based control strategies relying on synergistic models of manipulation activities learned from human experience can be integrated with real-time learning from actions strategies [5]. In [6] a classification of learning strategies for robotics is provided, while the difference between imitation learning and reinforcement learning (RL) is highlighted in [7]. From recent research in the field [8,9], it seems that RL represents the future toward autonomous and intelligent robots since it provides learning capabilities as those of humans, i.e. based on exploration and trial-and-error policies. In this context, suitable policy search methods to be implemented in a synergy-based framework are to be sought in order to reduce the search space dimension while guaranteeing the convergence and efficiency of the learning algorithm.

The development of a sensory substitution system for the sexual rehabilitation of men with chronic spinal cord injury.

PubMed

Borisoff, Jaimie F; Elliott, Stacy L; Hocaloski, Shea; Birch, Gary E

2010-11-01

Sexual health is often severely impacted after spinal cord injury (SCI). Current research has primarily addressed male erection and fertility, when in fact pleasure and orgasm are top priorities for functional recovery. Sensory substitution technology operates by communicating input from a lost sensory pathway to another intact sensory modality. It was hypothesized that through training and neuroplasticity, mapped tongue sensations would be interpreted as sensory perceptions arising from insensate genitalia, and improve the sexual experience. To report the development of a sensory substitution system for the sexual rehabilitation of men with chronic SCI. Subjects performed sexual self-stimulation while using a novel sensory substitution device that mapped the stroking motion of the hand to a congruous flow of electrocutaneous sensations on the tongue. Three questionnaires, along with structured interviews, were used to rate the perceived sexual sensations following each training session. Subjects completed 20 sessions over approximately 8 weeks of training. Each subject reported an increased level of sexual pleasure soon after training with the device. Each subject also reported specific perceptions of cutaneous-like sensations below their lesion that matched their hand motion. Later sessions, while remaining pleasurable and interesting, were inconsistent, and no subject reported an orgasmic feeling during a session. The subjects were all interested in continuing training with the device at home, if possible, in the future. This study is the first to show that sensory substitution is a possible therapeutic avenue for sexual rehabilitation in people lacking normal genital sexual sensations. However more research, for instance on frequency and duration of training, is needed in order to induce functional lasting neuroplasticity. In the near term, SCI rehabilitation should more fully address sexuality and the role of neuroplasticity for promoting the maximal potential for sexual pleasure and orgasm. © 2010 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

System design and animal experiment study of a novel minimally invasive surgical robot.

PubMed

Wang, Wei; Li, Jianmin; Wang, Shuxin; Su, He; Jiang, Xueming

2016-03-01

Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery has shown tremendous advances over the traditional technique. However, currently commercialized systems are large and complicated, which vastly raises the system cost and operation room requirements. A MIS robot named 'MicroHand' was developed over the past few years. The basic principle and the key technologies are analyzed in this paper. Comparison between the proposed robot and the da Vinci system is also presented. Finally, animal experiments were carried out to test the performance of MicroHand. Fifteen animal experiments were carried out from July 2013 to December 2013. All animal experiments were finished successfully. The proposed design method is an effective way to resolve the drawbacks of previous generations of the da Vinci surgical system. The animal experiment results confirmed the feasibility of the design. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An integrated dexterous robotic testbed for space applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Larry C.; Nguyen, Hai; Sauer, Edward

1992-01-01

An integrated dexterous robotic system was developed as a testbed to evaluate various robotics technologies for advanced space applications. The system configuration consisted of a Utah/MIT Dexterous Hand, a PUMA 562 arm, a stereo vision system, and a multiprocessing computer control system. In addition to these major subsystems, a proximity sensing system was integrated with the Utah/MIT Hand to provide capability for non-contact sensing of a nearby object. A high-speed fiber-optic link was used to transmit digitized proximity sensor signals back to the multiprocessing control system. The hardware system was designed to satisfy the requirements for both teleoperated and autonomous operations. The software system was designed to exploit parallel processing capability, pursue functional modularity, incorporate artificial intelligence for robot control, allow high-level symbolic robot commands, maximize reusable code, minimize compilation requirements, and provide an interactive application development and debugging environment for the end users. An overview is presented of the system hardware and software configurations, and implementation is discussed of subsystem functions.

How the impact of median neuropathy on sensorimotor control capability of hands for diabetes: an achievable assessment from functional perspectives.

PubMed

Chiu, Haw-Yen; Hsu, Hsiu-Yun; Kuo, Li-Chieh; Su, Fong-Chin; Yu, Hui-I; Hua, Shih-Che; Lu, Chieh-Hsiang

2014-01-01

To comprehend the sensorimotor control ability in diabetic hands, this study investigated the sensation, motor function and precision pinch performances derived from a pinch-holding-up activity (PHUA) test of the hands of diabetic patients and healthy subjects. The precision, sensitivity and specificity of the PHUA test in the measurements of diabetic patients were also analyzed. We hypothesized that the diabetic hands would have impacts on the sensorimotor functions of the hand performances under functionally quantitative measurements. One hundred and fifty-nine patients with clinically defined diabetes mellitus (DM) and 95 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were included. Semmes-Weinstein monofilament (SWM), static and moving two-point discrimination (S2PD and M2PD), maximal pinch strength and precision pinch performance tests were conducted to evaluate the sensation, motor and sensorimotor status of the recruited hands. The results showed that there were significant differences (all p<0.05) in SWM, S2PD, M2PD and maximum pinch strength between the DM and control groups. A higher force ratio in the DM patients than in the controls (p<0.001) revealed a poor ability of pinch force adjustment in the DM patients. The percentage of maximal pinch strength was also significantly different (p<0.001) between the DM and control groups. The sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.85, 0.51, and 0.724, respectively, for the PHUA test. Statistically significant degradations in sensory and motor functions and sensorimotor control ability were observed in the hands of the diabetic patients. The PHUA test could be feasibly used as a clinical tool to determine the sensorimotor function of the hands of diabetic patients from a functional perspective.

How the Impact of Median Neuropathy on Sensorimotor Control Capability of Hands for Diabetes: An Achievable Assessment from Functional Perspectives

PubMed Central

Chiu, Haw-Yen; Hsu, Hsiu-Yun; Kuo, Li-Chieh; Su, Fong-Chin; Yu, Hui-I; Hua, Shih-Che; Lu, Chieh-Hsiang

2014-01-01

To comprehend the sensorimotor control ability in diabetic hands, this study investigated the sensation, motor function and precision pinch performances derived from a pinch-holding-up activity (PHUA) test of the hands of diabetic patients and healthy subjects. The precision, sensitivity and specificity of the PHUA test in the measurements of diabetic patients were also analyzed. We hypothesized that the diabetic hands would have impacts on the sensorimotor functions of the hand performances under functionally quantitative measurements. One hundred and fifty-nine patients with clinically defined diabetes mellitus (DM) and 95 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were included. Semmes-Weinstein monofilament (SWM), static and moving two-point discrimination (S2PD and M2PD), maximal pinch strength and precision pinch performance tests were conducted to evaluate the sensation, motor and sensorimotor status of the recruited hands. The results showed that there were significant differences (all p<0.05) in SWM, S2PD, M2PD and maximum pinch strength between the DM and control groups. A higher force ratio in the DM patients than in the controls (p<0.001) revealed a poor ability of pinch force adjustment in the DM patients. The percentage of maximal pinch strength was also significantly different (p<0.001) between the DM and control groups. The sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.85, 0.51, and 0.724, respectively, for the PHUA test. Statistically significant degradations in sensory and motor functions and sensorimotor control ability were observed in the hands of the diabetic patients. The PHUA test could be feasibly used as a clinical tool to determine the sensorimotor function of the hands of diabetic patients from a functional perspective. PMID:24722361

Design of rehabilitation robot hand for fingers CPM training

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Hongfu; Chan, T. W.; Tong, K. Y.; Kwong, K. K.; Yao, Xifan

2008-10-01

This paper presents a low-cost prototype for rehabilitation robot aide patient do hands CPM (continuous passive motion) training. The design of the prototype is based on the principle of Rutgers Master II glove, but it is better in performance for more improvement made. In the design, it uses linear motors to replace pneumatic actuators to make the product more portable and mobile. It increases finger training range to 180 degree for the full range training of hand finger holding and extension. Also the prototype can not only be wearing on palm and fore arm do training for face to face with finger move together, but also be put in the opposite hand glove wear direction for hand rehabilitation training. During the research, Solidworks is used as the tool for mechanical design and movement simulation. It proved through experiment that the prototype made in the research is appropriate for hand do CPM training.

Double second toe transfer in congenital hand anomalies.

PubMed

Van Holder, C; Giele, H; Gilbert, A

1999-08-01

A series of 14 patients with congenital hand anomalies who received staged double second toe transfers to the same hand for restoration of function or form were reviewed retrospectively. There were three children with constriction ring syndrome, two with symbrachydactyly and nine with transverse absence (failure of formation). There were different indications, technical difficulties and results with the various anomalies. All transferred toes were mobile and sensate, and were reported to be of benefit in both function and appearance. However, secondary surgical procedures were required in all patients.

Effects of task-oriented robot training on arm function, activity, and quality of life in chronic stroke patients: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Timmermans, Annick A A; Lemmens, Ryanne J M; Monfrance, Maurice; Geers, Richard P J; Bakx, Wilbert; Smeets, Rob J E M; Seelen, Henk A M

2014-03-31

Over fifty percent of stroke patients experience chronic arm hand performance problems, compromising independence in daily life activities and quality of life. Task-oriented training may improve arm hand performance after stroke, whereby augmented therapy may lead to a better treatment outcome. Technology-supported training holds opportunities for increasing training intensity. However, the effects of robot-supported task-oriented training with real life objects in stroke patients are not known to date. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness and added value of the Haptic Master robot combined with task-oriented arm hand training in chronic stroke patients. In a single-blind randomized controlled trial, 22 chronic stroke patients were randomly allocated to receive either task-oriented robot-assisted arm-hand training (experimental group) or task-oriented non-robotic arm-hand training (control group). For training, the T-TOAT (Technology-supported Task-Oriented Arm Training) method was applied. Training was provided during 8 weeks, 4 times/week, 2 × 30 min/day. A significant improvement after training on the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) was demonstrated in the experimental group (p = 0.008). Results were maintained until 6 months after cessation of the training. On the perceived performance measure (Motor Activity Log (MAL)), both, the experimental and control group improved significantly after training (control group p = 0.008; experimental group p = 0.013). The improvements on MAL in both groups were maintained until 6 months after cessation of the training. With regard to quality of life, only in the control group a significant improvement after training was found (EuroQol-5D p = 0.015, SF-36 physical p = 0.01). However, the improvement on SF-36 in the control group was not maintained (p = 0.012). No between-group differences could be demonstrated on any of the outcome measures. Arm hand performance improved in chronic stroke patients, after eight weeks of task oriented training. The use of a Haptic Master robot in support of task-oriented arm training did not show additional value over the video-instructed task-oriented exercises in highly functional stroke patients. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN82787126.

Hands Off: Mentoring a Student-Led Robotics Team

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolenc, Nathan R.; Mitchell, Claire E.; Tai, Robert H.

2016-01-01

Mentors play important roles in determining the working environment of out-of-school-time clubs. On robotics teams, they provide guidance in hopes that their protégés progress through an engineering process. This study examined how mentors on one robotics team who defined their mentoring style as "let the students do the work" navigated…

Fabrication and characterization of bending and pressure sensors for a soft prosthetic hand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rocha, Rui Pedro; Alhais Lopes, Pedro; de Almeida, Anibal T.; Tavakoli, Mahmoud; Majidi, Carmel

2018-03-01

We demonstrate fabrication, characterization, and implementation of ‘soft-matter’ pressure and bending sensors for a soft robotic hand. The elastomer-based sensors are embedded in a robot finger composed of a 3D printed endoskeleton and covered by an elastomeric skin. Two types of sensors are evaluated, resistive pressure sensors and capacitive pressure sensors. The sensor is fabricated entirely out of insulating and conductive rubber, the latter composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer embedded with a percolating network of structured carbon black (CB). The sensor-integrated fingers have a simple materials architecture, can be fabricated with standard rapid prototyping methods, and are inexpensive to produce. When incorporated into a robotic hand, the CB-PDMS sensors and PDMS carrier medium function as an ‘artificial skin’ for touch and bend detection. Results show improved response with a capacitive sensor architecture, which, unlike a resistive sensor, is robust to electromechanical hysteresis, creep, and drift in the CB-PDMS composite. The sensorized fingers are integrated in an anthropomorphic hand and results for a variety of grasping tasks are presented.

Design and Characterization of Hand Module for Whole-Arm Rehabilitation Following Stroke

PubMed Central

Masia, L.; Krebs, Hermano Igo; Cappa, P.; Hogan, N.

2009-01-01

In 1991, a novel robot named MIT-MANUS was introduced as a test bed to study the potential of using robots to assist in and quantify the neurorehabilitation of motor function. It introduced a new modality of therapy, offering a highly backdrivable experience with a soft and stable feel for the user. MIT-MANUS proved an excellent fit for shoulder and elbow rehabilitation in stroke patients, showing a reduction of impairment in clinical trials with well over 300 stroke patients. The greatest impairment reduction was observed in the group of muscles exercised. This suggests a need for additional robots to rehabilitate other target areas of the body. Previous work has expanded the planar MIT-MANUS to include an antigravity robot for shoulder and elbow, and a wrist robot. In this paper we present the “missing link”: a hand robot. It consists of a single-degree-of-freedom (DOF) mechanism in a novel statorless configuration, which enables rehabilitation of grasping. The system uses the kinematic configuration of a double crank and slider where the members are linked to stator and rotor; a free base motor, i.e., a motor having two rotors that are free to rotate instead of a fixed stator and a single rotatable rotor (dual-rotor statorless motor). A cylindrical structure, made of six panels and driven by the relative rotation of the rotors, is able to increase its radius linearly, moving or guiding the hand of the patients during grasping. This module completes our development of robots for the upper extremity, yielding for the first time a whole-arm rehabilitation experience. In this paper, we will discuss in detail the design and characterization of the device. PMID:20228969

Control of a Robotic Hand Using a Tongue Control System-A Prosthesis Application.

PubMed

Johansen, Daniel; Cipriani, Christian; Popovic, Dejan B; Struijk, Lotte N S A

2016-07-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using an inductive tongue control system (ITCS) for controlling robotic/prosthetic hands and arms. This study presents a novel dual modal control scheme for multigrasp robotic hands combining standard electromyogram (EMG) with the ITCS. The performance of the ITCS control scheme was evaluated in a comparative study. Ten healthy subjects used both the ITCS control scheme and a conventional EMG control scheme to complete grasping exercises with the IH1 Azzurra robotic hand implementing five grasps. Time to activate a desired function or grasp was used as the performance metric. Statistically significant differences were found when comparing the performance of the two control schemes. On average, the ITCS control scheme was 1.15 s faster than the EMG control scheme, corresponding to a 35.4% reduction in the activation time. The largest difference was for grasp 5 with a mean AT reduction of 45.3% (2.38 s). The findings indicate that using the ITCS control scheme could allow for faster activation of specific grasps or functions compared with a conventional EMG control scheme. For transhumeral and especially bilateral amputees, the ITCS control scheme could have a significant impact on the prosthesis control. In addition, the ITCS would provide bilateral amputees with the additional advantage of environmental and computer control for which the ITCS was originally developed.

Removal of proprioception by BCI raises a stronger body ownership illusion in control of a humanlike robot.

PubMed

Alimardani, Maryam; Nishio, Shuichi; Ishiguro, Hiroshi

2016-09-22

Body ownership illusions provide evidence that our sense of self is not coherent and can be extended to non-body objects. Studying about these illusions gives us practical tools to understand the brain mechanisms that underlie body recognition and the experience of self. We previously introduced an illusion of body ownership transfer (BOT) for operators of a very humanlike robot. This sensation of owning the robot's body was confirmed when operators controlled the robot either by performing the desired motion with their body (motion-control) or by employing a brain-computer interface (BCI) that translated motor imagery commands to robot movement (BCI-control). The interesting observation during BCI-control was that the illusion could be induced even with a noticeable delay in the BCI system. Temporal discrepancy has always shown critical weakening effects on body ownership illusions. However the delay-robustness of BOT during BCI-control raised a question about the interaction between the proprioceptive inputs and delayed visual feedback in agency-driven illusions. In this work, we compared the intensity of BOT illusion for operators in two conditions; motion-control and BCI-control. Our results revealed a significantly stronger BOT illusion for the case of BCI-control. This finding highlights BCI's potential in inducing stronger agency-driven illusions by building a direct communication between the brain and controlled body, and therefore removing awareness from the subject's own body.

Vector-algebra approach to extract Denavit-Hartenberg parameters of assembled robot arms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barker, L. K.

1983-01-01

The Denavit-Hartenberg parameters characterize the joint axis systems in a robot arm and, naturally, appear in the transformation matrices from one joint axis system to another. These parameters are needed in the control of robot arms and in the passage of sensor information along the arm. This paper presents a vector algebra method to determine these parameters for any assembled robot arm. The idea is to measure the location of the robot hand (or extension) for different joint angles and then use these measurements to calculate the parameters.

Rehabilitation robotics for the upper extremity: review with new directions for orthopaedic disorders.

PubMed

Hakim, Renée M; Tunis, Brandon G; Ross, Michael D

2017-11-01

The focus of research using technological innovations such as robotic devices has been on interventions to improve upper extremity function in neurologic populations, particularly patients with stroke. There is a growing body of evidence describing rehabilitation programs using various types of supportive/assistive and/or resistive robotic and virtual reality-enhanced devices to improve outcomes for patients with neurologic disorders. The most promising approaches are task-oriented, based on current concepts of motor control/learning and practice-induced neuroplasticity. Based on this evidence, we describe application and feasibility of virtual reality-enhanced robotics integrated with current concepts in orthopaedic rehabilitation shifting from an impairment-based focus to inclusion of more intense, task-specific training for patients with upper extremity disorders, specifically emphasizing the wrist and hand. The purpose of this paper is to describe virtual reality-enhanced rehabilitation robotic devices, review evidence of application in patients with upper extremity deficits related to neurologic disorders, and suggest how this technology and task-oriented rehabilitation approach can also benefit patients with orthopaedic disorders of the wrist and hand. We will also discuss areas for further research and development using a task-oriented approach and a commercially available haptic robotic device to focus on training of grasp and manipulation tasks. Implications for Rehabilitation There is a growing body of evidence describing rehabilitation programs using various types of supportive/assistive and/or resistive robotic and virtual reality-enhanced devices to improve outcomes for patients with neurologic disorders. The most promising approaches using rehabilitation robotics are task-oriented, based on current concepts of motor control/learning and practice-induced neuroplasticity. Based on the evidence in neurologic populations, virtual reality-enhanced robotics may be integrated with current concepts in orthopaedic rehabilitation shifting from an impairment-based focus to inclusion of more intense, task-specific training for patients with UE disorders, specifically emphasizing the wrist and hand. Clinical application of a task-oriented approach may be accomplished using commercially available haptic robotic device to focus on training of grasp and manipulation tasks.

A 'rubber-hand' illusion reveals a relationship between perceptual body image and unhealthy body change.

PubMed

Mussap, Alexander J; Salton, Nancy

2006-07-01

The 'rubber-hand' illusion, in which individuals misattribute tactile sensations felt by their hand to a rubber prosthetic hand that they see being stimulated, was employed to examine the relationship between perceptual body image and unhealthy body change in 128 volunteers. Variance in unhealthy body development in males (22%) and in bulimic symptomatology in both females and males (10%), was explained by susceptibility to the illusion. The illusion, which is relatively free from cognitive and emotional 'contamination', could be used to identify individuals most responsive to therapies designed to correct inaccurate body perceptions-individuals whose perceptual body image is malleable.

Soft robot design methodology for `push-button' manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paik, Jamie

2018-06-01

`Push-button' or fully automated manufacturing would enable the production of robots with zero intervention from human hands. Realizing this utopia requires a fundamental shift from a sequential (design-materials-manufacturing) to a concurrent design methodology.

Measurement of hand dynamics in a microsurgery environment: Preliminary data in the design of a bimanual telemicro-operation test bed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charles, Steve; Williams, Roy

1989-01-01

Data describing the microsurgeon's hand dynamics was recorded and analyzed in order to provide an accurate model for the telemicrosurgery application of the Bimanual Telemicro-operation Test Bed. The model, in turn, will guide the development of algorithms for the control of robotic systems in bimanual telemicro-operation tasks. Measurements were made at the hand-tool interface and include position, acceleration and force between the tool-finger interface. Position information was captured using an orthogonal pulsed magnetic field positioning system resulting in measurements in all six degrees-of-freedom (DOF). Acceleration data at the hands was obtained using accelerometers positioned in a triaxial arrangement on the back of the hand allowing measurements in all three cartesian-coordinate axes. Force data was obtained by using miniature load cells positioned between the tool and the finger and included those forces experienced perpendicular to the tool shaft and those transferred from the tool-tissue site. Position data will provide a minimum/maximum reference frame for the robotic system's work space or envelope. Acceleration data will define the response times needed by the robotic system in order to emulate and subsequently outperform the human operator's tool movements. The force measurements will aid in designing a force-reflective, force-scaling system as well as defining the range of forces the robotic system will encounter. All analog data was acquired by a 16-channel analog-to-digital conversion system residing in a IBM PC/AT-compatible computer at the Center's laboratory. The same system was also used to analyze and present the data.

Upper-limb tremor suppression with a 7DOF exoskeleton power-assist robot.

PubMed

Kiguchi, Kazuo; Hayashi, Yoshiaki

2013-01-01

A tremor which is one of the involuntary motions is somewhat rhythmic motion that may occur in various body parts. Although there are several kinds of the tremor, an essential tremor is the most common tremor disorder of the arm. The essential tremor is a disorder of unknown cause, and it is common in the elderly. The essential tremor interferes with a patient's daily living activity, because it may occur during a voluntary motion. If a patient of an essential tremor uses an EMG-based controlled power-assist robot, the robot might misunderstand the user's motion intention because of the effect of the essential tremor. In that case, upper-limb power-assist robots must carry out tremor suppression as well as power-assist, since a person performs various precise tasks with certain tools by the upper-limb in daily living. Therefore, it is important to suppress the tremor at the hand and grasped tool. However, in the case of the tremor suppression control method which suppressed the vibrations of the hand and the tip of the tool, vibration of other part such as elbow might occur. In this paper, the tremor suppression control method for upper-limb power-assist robot is proposed. In the proposed method, the vibration of the elbow is suppressed in addition to the hand and the tip of the tool. The validity of the proposed method was verified by the experiments.

Visuomotor learning by passive motor experience

PubMed Central

Sakamoto, Takashi; Kondo, Toshiyuki

2015-01-01

Humans can adapt to unfamiliar dynamic and/or kinematic transformations through the active motor experience. Recent studies of neurorehabilitation using robots or brain-computer interface (BCI) technology suggest that passive motor experience would play a measurable role in motor recovery, however our knowledge of passive motor learning is limited. To clarify the effects of passive motor experience on human motor learning, we performed arm reaching experiments guided by a robotic manipulandum. The results showed that the passive motor experience had an anterograde transfer effect on the subsequent motor execution, whereas no retrograde interference was confirmed in the ABA paradigm experiment. This suggests that the passive experience of the error between visual and proprioceptive sensations leads to the limited but actual compensation of behavior, although it is fragile and cannot be consolidated as a persistent motor memory. PMID:26029091

Analyzing Robotic Kinematics Via Computed Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carnahan, Timothy M.

1992-01-01

Computing system assists in evaluation of kinematics of conceptual robot. Displays positions and motions of robotic manipulator within work cell. Also displays interactions between robotic manipulator and other objects. Results of simulation displayed on graphical computer workstation. System includes both off-the-shelf software originally developed for automotive industry and specially developed software. Simulation system also used to design human-equivalent hand, to model optical train in infrared system, and to develop graphical interface for teleoperator simulation system.

The trade-off between morphology and control in the co-optimized design of robots.

PubMed

Rosendo, Andre; von Atzigen, Marco; Iida, Fumiya

2017-01-01

Conventionally, robot morphologies are developed through simulations and calculations, and different control methods are applied afterwards. Assuming that simulations and predictions are simplified representations of our reality, how sure can roboticists be that the chosen morphology is the most adequate for the possible control choices in the real-world? Here we study the influence of the design parameters in the creation of a robot with a Bayesian morphology-control (MC) co-optimization process. A robot autonomously creates child robots from a set of possible design parameters and uses Bayesian Optimization (BO) to infer the best locomotion behavior from real world experiments. Then, we systematically change from an MC co-optimization to a control-only (C) optimization, which better represents the traditional way that robots are developed, to explore the trade-off between these two methods. We show that although C processes can greatly improve the behavior of poor morphologies, such agents are still outperformed by MC co-optimization results with as few as 25 iterations. Our findings, on one hand, suggest that BO should be used in the design process of robots for both morphological and control parameters to reach optimal performance, and on the other hand, point to the downfall of current design methods in face of new search techniques.

The trade-off between morphology and control in the co-optimized design of robots

PubMed Central

Iida, Fumiya

2017-01-01

Conventionally, robot morphologies are developed through simulations and calculations, and different control methods are applied afterwards. Assuming that simulations and predictions are simplified representations of our reality, how sure can roboticists be that the chosen morphology is the most adequate for the possible control choices in the real-world? Here we study the influence of the design parameters in the creation of a robot with a Bayesian morphology-control (MC) co-optimization process. A robot autonomously creates child robots from a set of possible design parameters and uses Bayesian Optimization (BO) to infer the best locomotion behavior from real world experiments. Then, we systematically change from an MC co-optimization to a control-only (C) optimization, which better represents the traditional way that robots are developed, to explore the trade-off between these two methods. We show that although C processes can greatly improve the behavior of poor morphologies, such agents are still outperformed by MC co-optimization results with as few as 25 iterations. Our findings, on one hand, suggest that BO should be used in the design process of robots for both morphological and control parameters to reach optimal performance, and on the other hand, point to the downfall of current design methods in face of new search techniques. PMID:29023482

Object discrimination using electrotactile feedback.

PubMed

Arakeri, Tapas J; Hasse, Brady A; Fuglevand, Andrew J

2018-04-09

A variety of bioengineering systems are being developed to restore tactile sensations in individuals who have lost somatosensory feedback because of spinal cord injury, stroke, or amputation. These systems typically detect tactile force with sensors placed on an insensate hand (or prosthetic hand in the case of amputees) and deliver touch information by electrically or mechanically stimulating sensate skin above the site of injury. Successful object manipulation, however, also requires proprioceptive feedback representing the configuration and movements of the hand and digits. Therefore, we developed a simple system that simultaneously provides information about tactile grip force and hand aperture using current amplitude-modulated electrotactile feedback. We evaluated the utility of this system by testing the ability of eight healthy human subjects to distinguish among 27 objects of varying sizes, weights, and compliances based entirely on electrotactile feedback. The feedback was modulated by grip-force and hand-aperture sensors placed on the hand of an experimenter (not visible to the subject) grasping and lifting the test objects. We were also interested to determine the degree to which subjects could learn to use such feedback when tested over five consecutive sessions. The average percentage correct identifications on day 1 (28.5%  ±  8.2% correct) was well above chance (3.7%) and increased significantly with training to 49.2%  ±  10.6% on day 5. Furthermore, this training transferred reasonably well to a set of novel objects. These results suggest that simple, non-invasive methods can provide useful multisensory feedback that might prove beneficial in improving the control over prosthetic limbs.

Long-term knowledge acquisition using contextual information in a memory-inspired robot architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pratama, Ferdian; Mastrogiovanni, Fulvio; Lee, Soon Geul; Chong, Nak Young

2017-03-01

In this paper, we present a novel cognitive framework allowing a robot to form memories of relevant traits of its perceptions and to recall them when necessary. The framework is based on two main principles: on the one hand, we propose an architecture inspired by current knowledge in human memory organisation; on the other hand, we integrate such an architecture with the notion of context, which is used to modulate the knowledge acquisition process when consolidating memories and forming new ones, as well as with the notion of familiarity, which is employed to retrieve proper memories given relevant cues. Although much research has been carried out, which exploits Machine Learning approaches to provide robots with internal models of their environment (including objects and occurring events therein), we argue that such approaches may not be the right direction to follow if a long-term, continuous knowledge acquisition is to be achieved. As a case study scenario, we focus on both robot-environment and human-robot interaction processes. In case of robot-environment interaction, a robot performs pick and place movements using the objects in the workspace, at the same time observing their displacement on a table in front of it, and progressively forms memories defined as relevant cues (e.g. colour, shape or relative position) in a context-aware fashion. As far as human-robot interaction is concerned, the robot can recall specific snapshots representing past events using both sensory information and contextual cues upon request by humans.

Natural control capabilities of robotic hands by hand amputated subjects.

PubMed

Atzori, Manfredo; Gijsberts, Arjan; Caputo, Barbara; Muller, Henning

2014-01-01

People with transradial hand amputations who own a myoelectric prosthesis currently have some control capabilities via sEMG. However, the control systems are still limited and not natural. The Ninapro project is aiming at helping the scientific community to overcome these limits through the creation of publicly available electromyography data sources to develop and test machine learning algorithms. In this paper we describe the movement classification results gained from three subjects with an homogeneous level of amputation, and we compare them with the results of 40 intact subjects. The number of considered subjects can seem small at first sight, but it is not considering the literature of the field (which has to face the difficulty of recruiting trans-radial hand amputated subjects). The classification is performed with four different classifiers and the obtained balanced classification rates are up to 58.6% on 50 movements, which is an excellent result compared to the current literature. Successively, for each subject we find a subset of up to 9 highly independent movements, (defined as movements that can be distinguished with more than 90% accuracy), which is a deeply innovative step in literature. The natural control of a robotic hand in so many movements could lead to an immediate progress in robotic hand prosthetics and it could deeply change the quality of life of amputated subjects.

Online Bimanual Manipulation Using Surface Electromyography and Incremental Learning.

PubMed

Strazzulla, Ilaria; Nowak, Markus; Controzzi, Marco; Cipriani, Christian; Castellini, Claudio

2017-03-01

The paradigm of simultaneous and proportional myocontrol of hand prostheses is gaining momentum in the rehabilitation robotics community. As opposed to the traditional surface electromyography classification schema, in simultaneous and proportional control the desired force/torque at each degree of freedom of the hand/wrist is predicted in real-time, giving to the individual a more natural experience, reducing the cognitive effort and improving his dexterity in daily-life activities. In this study we apply such an approach in a realistic manipulation scenario, using 10 non-linear incremental regression machines to predict the desired torques for each motor of two robotic hands. The prediction is enforced using two sets of surface electromyography electrodes and an incremental, non-linear machine learning technique called Incremental Ridge Regression with Random Fourier Features. Nine able-bodied subjects were engaged in a functional test with the aim to evaluate the performance of the system. The robotic hands were mounted on two hand/wrist orthopedic splints worn by healthy subjects and controlled online. An average completion rate of more than 95% was achieved in single-handed tasks and 84% in bimanual tasks. On average, 5 min of retraining were necessary on a total session duration of about 1 h and 40 min. This work sets a beginning in the study of bimanual manipulation with prostheses and will be carried on through experiments in unilateral and bilateral upper limb amputees thus increasing its scientific value.

Initial experience using a robotic-driven laparoscopic needle holder with ergonomic handle: assessment of surgeons' task performance and ergonomics.

PubMed

Sánchez-Margallo, Juan A; Sánchez-Margallo, Francisco M

2017-12-01

The objective of this study is to assess the surgeons' performance and ergonomics during the use of a robotic-driven needle holder in laparoscopic suturing tasks. Six right-handed laparoscopic surgeons with different levels of experience took part in this study. Participants performed a set of three different intracorporeal suturing tasks organized in ten trials during a period of five weeks. Surgeons used both conventional (Conv) and robotic (Rob) laparoscopic needle holders. Precision using the surgical needle, quality of the intracorporeal suturing performance, execution time and leakage pressure for the urethrovesical anastomosis, as well as the ergonomics of the surgeon's hand posture, were analyzed during the first, fifth and last trials. No statistically significant differences in precision and quality of suturing performance were obtained between both groups of instruments. Surgeons required more time using the robotic instrument than using the conventional needle holder to perform the urethrovesical anastomosis, but execution time was significantly reduced after training ([Formula: see text] 0.05). There were no differences in leakage pressure for the anastomoses carried out by both instruments. After training, novice surgeons significantly improved the ergonomics of the wrist ([Formula: see text] 0.05) and index finger (Conv: 36.381[Formula: see text], Rob: 30.389[Formula: see text]; p = 0.024) when using the robotic instrument compared to the conventional needle holder. Results have shown that, although both instruments offer similar technical performance, the robotic-driven instrument results in better ergonomics for the surgeon's hand posture compared to the use of a conventional laparoscopic needle holder in intracorporeal suturing.

Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI): Inital Observations and Activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edgett, K. S.; Yingst, R. A.; Minitti, M. E.; Robinson, M. L.; Kennedy, M. R.; Lipkaman, L. J.; Jensen, E. H.; Anderson, R. C.; Bean, K. M.; Beegle, L. W.;

Student teams practice for regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Student teams (background) maneuver their robots on the playing field during practice rounds of the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. As one of their goals, the robots have to retrieve pillow-like disks from the floor. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Color Camera for Curiosity Robotic Arm

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-11-16

The Mars Hand Lens Imager MAHLI camera will fly on NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission, launching in late 2011. This photo of the camera was taken before MAHLI November 2010 installation onto the robotic arm of the mission Mars rover, Curiosity.

Neuro-prosthetic interplay. Comment on "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by M. Santello et al.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schieber, Marc H.

2016-07-01

Control of the human hand has been both difficult to understand scientifically and difficult to emulate technologically. The article by Santello and colleagues in the current issue of Physics of Life Reviews[1] highlights the accelerating pace of interaction between the neuroscience of controlling body movement and the engineering of robotic hands that can be used either autonomously or as part of a motor neuroprosthesis, an artificial body part that moves under control from a human subject's own nervous system. Motor neuroprostheses typically involve a brain-computer interface (BCI) that takes signals from the subject's nervous system or muscles, interprets those signals through a decoding algorithm, and then applies the resulting output to control the artificial device.

The Arrival of Robotics in Spine Surgery: A Review of the Literature.

PubMed

Ghasem, Alexander; Sharma, Akhil; Greif, Dylan N; Alam, Milad; Maaieh, Motasem Al

2018-04-18

Systematic Review. The authors aim to review comparative outcome measures between robotic and free-hand spine surgical procedures including: accuracy of spinal instrumentation, radiation exposure, operative time, hospital stay, and complication rates. Misplacement of pedicle screws in conventional open as well as minimally invasive surgical procedures has prompted the need for innovation and allowed the emergence of robotics in spine surgery. Prior to incorporation of robotic surgery in routine practice, demonstration of improved instrumentation accuracy, operative efficiency, and patient safety is required. A systematic search of the PubMed, OVID-MEDLINE, and Cochrane databases was performed for papers relevant to robotic assistance of pedicle screw placement. Inclusion criteria were constituted by English written randomized control trials, prospective and retrospective cohort studies involving robotic instrumentation in the spine. Following abstract, title, and full-text review, 32 articles were selected for study inclusion. Intrapedicular accuracy in screw placement and subsequent complications were at least comparable if not superior in the robotic surgery cohort. There is evidence supporting that total operative time is prolonged in robot assisted surgery compared to conventional free-hand. Radiation exposure appeared to be variable between studies; radiation time did decrease in the robot arm as the total number of robotic cases ascended, suggesting a learning curve effect. Multi-level procedures appeared to tend toward earlier discharge in patients undergoing robotic spine surgery. The implementation of robotic technology for pedicle screw placement yields an acceptable level of accuracy on a highly consistent basis. Surgeons should remain vigilant about confirmation of robotic assisted screw trajectory, as drilling pathways have been shown to be altered by soft tissue pressures, forceful surgical application, and bony surface skiving. However, the effective consequence of robot-assistance on radiation exposure, length of stay, and operative time remains unclear and requires meticulous examination in future studies. 4.

Robonaut: A Robotic Astronaut Assistant

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ambrose, Robert O.; Diftler, Myron A.

2001-01-01

NASA's latest anthropomorphic robot, Robonaut, has reached a milestone in its capability. This highly dexterous robot, designed to assist astronauts in space, is now performing complex tasks at the Johnson Space Center that could previously only be carried out by humans. With 43 degrees of freedom, Robonaut is the first humanoid built for space and incorporates technology advances in dexterous hands, modular manipulators, lightweight materials, and telepresence control systems. Robonaut is human size, has a three degree of freedom (DOF) articulated waist, and two, seven DOF arms, giving it an impressive work space for interacting with its environment. Its two, five fingered hands allow manipulation of a wide range of tools. A pan/tilt head with multiple stereo camera systems provides data for both teleoperators and computer vision systems.

Improved sample manipulation at the STRESS-SPEC neutron diffractometer using an industrial 6-axis robot for texture and strain analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Randau, C.; Brokmeier, H. G.; Gan, W. M.; Hofmann, M.; Voeller, M.; Tekouo, W.; Al-hamdany, N.; Seidl, G.; Schreyer, A.

2015-09-01

The materials science neutron diffractometer STRESS-SPEC located at FRM II is a dedicated instrument for strain and pole figure measurements. Both methods make complementary demands on sample handling. On one hand pole figure measurements need a high degree of freedom to orient small samples and on the other hand in strain investigations it is often necessary to handle large and heavy components. Therefore a robot based sample positioning system was developed, which has the capability to provide both possibilities. Based on this new robot system further developments like a full automated sample changer system for texture measurements were accomplished. Moreover this system opens the door for combined strain and texture analysis at STRESS-SPEC.

Nonvascularized toe phalangeal transfer and distraction lengthening for symbrachydactyly.

PubMed

Patterson, Ryan W; Seitz, William H

2010-04-01

Symbrachydactyly describes a spectrum of congenital hand differences consisting of digital loss resulting in fused short fingers. As the principles for distraction lengthening have evolved, the technique of nonvascularized toe phalangeal transfer to the hand with shortened digits has provided patients with improved outcomes. Nonvascularized toe phalanx to hand transplant with distraction lengthening restores functional length to a skeletally deficient, poorly functioning hand while maintaining an overlying layer of vascular and sensate tissue. The primary goal is improvement of digital length to enhance mechanical advantage and prehension. We describe the technique of nonvascularized toe phalangeal transfer and distraction lengthening for symbrachydactyly, including the following steps: nonvascularized proximal toe phalanx harvest, toe phalanx transfer to hand, pin placement, osteotomy, and closure.

Recovery of nerve injury-induced alexia for Braille using forearm anaesthesia.

PubMed

Björkman, Anders; Rosén, Birgitta; Lundborg, Göran

2008-04-16

Nerve injuries in the upper extremity may severely affect hand function. Cutaneous forearm anaesthesia has been shown to improve hand sensation in nerve-injured patients. A blind man who lost his Braille reading capability after an axillary plexus injury was treated with temporary cutaneous forearm anaesthesia. After treatment sensory functions of the hand improved and the patient regained his Braille reading capability. The mechanism behind the improvement is likely unmasking of inhibited or silent neurons, but after repeated treatment sessions at increasing intervals the improvement has remained at 1-year follow-up, implying a structural change in the somatosensory cortex.

Robotic Thumb Assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ihrke, Chris A. (Inventor); Bridgwater, Lyndon (Inventor); Platt, Robert (Inventor); Wampler, II, Charles W. (Inventor); Goza, S. Michael (Inventor)

2013-01-01

An improved robotic thumb for a robotic hand assembly is provided. According to one aspect of the disclosure, improved tendon routing in the robotic thumb provides control of four degrees of freedom with only five tendons. According to another aspect of the disclosure, one of the five degrees of freedom of a human thumb is replaced in the robotic thumb with a permanent twist in the shape of a phalange. According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a position sensor includes a magnet having two portions shaped as circle segments with different center points. The magnet provides a linearized output from a Hall effect sensor.

Student teams prepare robots for regional competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Student teams and sponsors, with their robots, fill the Center for Space Education at KSC as they look over the competition. Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition March 4-6. The event pits the team-built gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Student teams prepare robots for regional competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Students look over one of the robots to compete in the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition being held at Kennedy Space Center March 4-6. Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits the team-built gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Introduction to autonomous mobile robotics using Lego Mindstorms NXT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akın, H. Levent; Meriçli, Çetin; Meriçli, Tekin

2013-12-01

Teaching the fundamentals of robotics to computer science undergraduates requires designing a well-balanced curriculum that is complemented with hands-on applications on a platform that allows rapid construction of complex robots, and implementation of sophisticated algorithms. This paper describes such an elective introductory course where the Lego Mindstorms NXT kits are used as the robot platform. The aims, scope and contents of the course are presented, and the design of the laboratory sessions as well as the term projects, which address several core problems of robotics and artificial intelligence simultaneously, are explained in detail.

Open-Box Muscle-Computer Interface: Introduction to Human-Computer Interactions in Bioengineering, Physiology, and Neuroscience Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landa-Jiménez, M. A.; González-Gaspar, P.; Pérez-Estudillo, C.; López-Meraz, M. L.; Morgado-Valle, C.; Beltran-Parrazal, L.

2016-01-01

A Muscle-Computer Interface (muCI) is a human-machine system that uses electromyographic (EMG) signals to communicate with a computer. Surface EMG (sEMG) signals are currently used to command robotic devices, such as robotic arms and hands, and mobile robots, such as wheelchairs. These signals reflect the motor intention of a user before the…

An Exploratory Study of a Robotics Educational Platform on STEM Career Interests in Middle School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinton, Tracy Barger

With the large expected growth in STEM-related careers in American industries, there are not enough graduates to fill these positions (United States Department of Labor, 2015). Increased efforts are being made to reform STEM education from early childhood to college level studies, mainly through increased efforts to incorporate new technologies and project-based learning activities (Hegedorn & Purnamasari, 2012). At the middle school level, a robotics educational platform can be a worthwhile activity that provides hands-on learning as students learn basic programming and engineering skills (Grubbs, 2013). Based on the popularity of LEGO toys, LEGO Education developed an engaging and effective way to learn about computer programming and basic engineering concepts (Welch & Huffman, 2011). LEGO MINDSTORMS offers a project-based learning environment that engages students in real-life, problem-solving challenges. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the instructional use of a robotics educational curriculum on middle school students' attitudes toward and interests in STEM and their experiences with LEGO Robotics activities. Participants included 23 seventh grade students who were enrolled in a Career Cluster Technologies I class in a suburban middle school. Data for the study were collected from three focus group interviews, open-ended surveys, classroom observations, and the Career Cruising program. Findings revealed that the robotics activities led to an increased interest and higher self-efficacy in STEM tasks. If students continue to nurture and develop their STEM interests, it is possible that many of them may develop higher confidence and eventually set personal goals related to STEM classes and careers. While other studies have been conducted on similar topics, this qualitative research is unique because it contributed to the gap in research that investigates the impact of an in-class robotics curriculum on middle school students' attitudes and interests in STEM. Throughout the robotics unit, students exhibited positive reactions, including much excitement and enjoyment as they solved the robotics challenges. In addition, students demonstrated a greater interest in STEM courses and careers as a result of this hands-on activity. Middle school teachers should incorporate STEM-based activities such as robotics to help students gain hands-on STEM skills.

Design Of A Low Cost Anthropomorphic Robot Hand For Industrial Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, P.; Raleigh, B.

2009-11-01

Autonomous grasping systems using anthropomorphic robotic end effectors have many applications, and the potential of such devices has inspired researchers to develop many types of grasping systems over the past 30 years. Their research has yielded significant advances in end effector dexterity and functionality. However, due to the cost and complexity associated with such devices, their role has been largely confined to that of being research tools in laboratories. Industry, by contrast, has largely opted for simple, single task, devices. This paper presents a novel low cost anthropomorphic robotic end effector, and in particular the design characteristics that make it more applicable to industrial application. The design brief was (i) to be broadly similar to the human hand in terms of size and performance (ii) be low cost (less than €5000 for the system) and (iii) to provide sufficient performance to allow use in industrial applications. Consisting of three fingers and an opposing thumb, the robotic hand developed has a total of 12 automated degrees of freedom. Another 4 degrees of freedom can be set manually. The specific design of the fingers and thumb, together with the drive arrangement utilizing synchronous belts, yields a simplified kinematics solution for the control of movement. The modular nature of the design is extended also to the palm, which can be easily modified to produce different overall work envelopes for the hand. The drive system and grasping strategies are also detailed.

Development and Analysis of Bending Actuator Using McKibben Artificial Muscle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Feifei; Dohta, Shujiro; Akagi, Tetsuya

Recent years, the number of nuclear families is rapidly growing. So the development of a human-friendly-robot which can take care of human daily life is strongly desired. This robot has to work just like a human, so, it is needed to have a dexterous soft hand in the robot. Therefore, we have developed an artificial soft gripper. This robot hand which has five fingers is made of silicone rubber. We also developed the hand which could be used to achieve several works just like a human hand. For example, it can grasp some objects that have the different shape and stiffness. Since it is made of silicone rubber, there is little damage to the object. However, the finger could not generate a larger force, less than 3N. In addition, it needs a skill and time to make the finger. In this study, we proposed and tested a bending actuator that could be easily constructed by putting the McKibben artificial muscle into the flexible tube. We also investigated the generated force and bending angle of the actuator. As a result, the generated force of the actuator was improved about 8.5 times as large as previous one. We also improved the bending actuator by changing the tube and the slit of the flexible tube. And the analytical model for the bending actuator was proposed and the calculated results were compared with the experimental ones.

Compact Dexterous Robotic Hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lovchik, Christopher Scott (Inventor); Diftler, Myron A. (Inventor)

2001-01-01

A compact robotic hand includes a palm housing, a wrist section, and a forearm section. The palm housing supports a plurality of fingers and one or more movable palm members that cooperate with the fingers to grasp and/or release an object. Each flexible finger comprises a plurality of hingedly connected segments, including a proximal segment pivotally connected to the palm housing. The proximal finger segment includes at least one groove defining first and second cam surfaces for engagement with a cable. A plurality of lead screw assemblies each carried by the palm housing are supplied with power from a flexible shaft rotated by an actuator and output linear motion to a cable move a finger. The cable is secured within a respective groove and enables each finger to move between an opened and closed position. A decoupling assembly pivotally connected to a proximal finger segment enables a cable connected thereto to control movement of an intermediate and distal finger segment independent of movement of the proximal finger segment. The dexterous robotic hand closely resembles the function of a human hand yet is light weight and capable of grasping both heavy and light objects with a high degree of precision.

Telemanipulation of cooperative robots: a case of study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pliego-Jiménez, Javier; Arteaga-Pérez, Marco

2018-06-01

This article addresses the problem of dexterous robotic grasping by means of a telemanipulation system composed of a single master and two slave robot manipulators. The slave robots are analysed as a cooperative system where it is assumed that the robots can push but not pull the object. In order to achieve a stable rigid grasp, a centralised adaptive position-force control algorithm for the slave robots is proposed. On the other hand, a linear velocity observer for the master robot is developed to avoid numerical differentiation. A set of experiments with different human operators were carried out to show the good performance and capabilities of the proposed control-observer algorithm. In addition, the dynamic model and closed-loop dynamics of the telemanipulation is presented.

TROTER's (Tiny Robotic Operation Team Experiment): A new concept of space robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Su, Renjeng

1990-01-01

In view of the future need of automation and robotics in space and the existing approaches to the problem, we proposed a new concept of robots for space construction. The new concept is based on the basic idea of decentralization. Decentralization occurs, on the one hand, in using teams of many cooperative robots for construction tasks. Redundancy and modular design are explored to achieve high reliability for team robotic operations. Reliability requirement on individual robots is greatly reduced. Another area of decentralization is manifested by the proposed control hierarchy which eventually includes humans in the loop. The control strategy is constrained by various time delays and calls for different levels of abstraction of the task dynamics. Such technology is needed for remote control of robots in an uncertain environment. Thus, concerns of human safety around robots are relaxed. This presentation also introduces the required technologies behind the new robotic concept.

Hand-Eye Calibration of Robonaut

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nickels, Kevin; Huber, Eric

2004-01-01

NASA's Human Space Flight program depends heavily on Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVA's) performed by human astronauts. EVA is a high risk environment that requires extensive training and ground support. In collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NASA is conducting a ground development project to produce a robotic astronaut's assistant, called Robonaut, that could help reduce human EVA time and workload. The project described in this paper designed and implemented a hand-eye calibration scheme for Robonaut, Unit A. The intent of this calibration scheme is to improve hand-eye coordination of the robot. The basic approach is to use kinematic and stereo vision measurements, namely the joint angles self-reported by the right arm and 3-D positions of a calibration fixture as measured by vision, to estimate the transformation from Robonaut's base coordinate system to its hand coordinate system and to its vision coordinate system. Two methods of gathering data sets have been developed, along with software to support each. In the first, the system observes the robotic arm and neck angles as the robot is operated under external control, and measures the 3-D position of a calibration fixture using Robonaut's stereo cameras, and logs these data. In the second, the system drives the arm and neck through a set of pre-recorded configurations, and data are again logged. Two variants of the calibration scheme have been developed. The full calibration scheme is a batch procedure that estimates all relevant kinematic parameters of the arm and neck of the robot The daily calibration scheme estimates only joint offsets for each rotational joint on the arm and neck, which are assumed to change from day to day. The schemes have been designed to be automatic and easy to use so that the robot can be fully recalibrated when needed such as after repair, upgrade, etc, and can be partially recalibrated after each power cycle. The scheme has been implemented on Robonaut Unit A and has been shown to reduce mismatch between kinematically derived positions and visually derived positions from a mean of 13.75cm using the previous calibration to means of 1.85cm using a full calibration and 2.02cm using a suboptimal but faster daily calibration. This improved calibration has already enabled the robot to more accurately reach for and grasp objects that it sees within its workspace. The system has been used to support an autonomous wrench-grasping experiment and significantly improved the workspace positioning of the hand based on visually derived wrench position. estimates.

Virtual and Actual Humanoid Robot Control with Four-Class Motor-Imagery-Based Optical Brain-Computer Interface

PubMed Central

Kim, Youngmoo E.

2017-01-01

Motor-imagery tasks are a popular input method for controlling brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), partially due to their similarities to naturally produced motor signals. The use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in BCIs is still emerging and has shown potential as a supplement or replacement for electroencephalography. However, studies often use only two or three motor-imagery tasks, limiting the number of available commands. In this work, we present the results of the first four-class motor-imagery-based online fNIRS-BCI for robot control. Thirteen participants utilized upper- and lower-limb motor-imagery tasks (left hand, right hand, left foot, and right foot) that were mapped to four high-level commands (turn left, turn right, move forward, and move backward) to control the navigation of a simulated or real robot. A significant improvement in classification accuracy was found between the virtual-robot-based BCI (control of a virtual robot) and the physical-robot BCI (control of the DARwIn-OP humanoid robot). Differences were also found in the oxygenated hemoglobin activation patterns of the four tasks between the first and second BCI. These results corroborate previous findings that motor imagery can be improved with feedback and imply that a four-class motor-imagery-based fNIRS-BCI could be feasible with sufficient subject training. PMID:28804712

Virtual and Actual Humanoid Robot Control with Four-Class Motor-Imagery-Based Optical Brain-Computer Interface.

PubMed

Batula, Alyssa M; Kim, Youngmoo E; Ayaz, Hasan

2017-01-01

Motor-imagery tasks are a popular input method for controlling brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), partially due to their similarities to naturally produced motor signals. The use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in BCIs is still emerging and has shown potential as a supplement or replacement for electroencephalography. However, studies often use only two or three motor-imagery tasks, limiting the number of available commands. In this work, we present the results of the first four-class motor-imagery-based online fNIRS-BCI for robot control. Thirteen participants utilized upper- and lower-limb motor-imagery tasks (left hand, right hand, left foot, and right foot) that were mapped to four high-level commands (turn left, turn right, move forward, and move backward) to control the navigation of a simulated or real robot. A significant improvement in classification accuracy was found between the virtual-robot-based BCI (control of a virtual robot) and the physical-robot BCI (control of the DARwIn-OP humanoid robot). Differences were also found in the oxygenated hemoglobin activation patterns of the four tasks between the first and second BCI. These results corroborate previous findings that motor imagery can be improved with feedback and imply that a four-class motor-imagery-based fNIRS-BCI could be feasible with sufficient subject training.

Surface EMG in advanced hand prosthetics.

PubMed

Castellini, Claudio; van der Smagt, Patrick

2009-01-01

One of the major problems when dealing with highly dexterous, active hand prostheses is their control by the patient wearing them. With the advances in mechatronics, building prosthetic hands with multiple active degrees of freedom is realisable, but actively controlling the position and especially the exerted force of each finger cannot yet be done naturally. This paper deals with advanced robotic hand control via surface electromyography. Building upon recent results, we show that machine learning, together with a simple downsampling algorithm, can be effectively used to control on-line, in real time, finger position as well as finger force of a highly dexterous robotic hand. The system determines the type of grasp a human subject is willing to use, and the required amount of force involved, with a high degree of accuracy. This represents a remarkable improvement with respect to the state-of-the-art of feed-forward control of dexterous mechanical hands, and opens up a scenario in which amputees will be able to control hand prostheses in a much finer way than it has so far been possible.

Securing Safety with Sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

The Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center collaborated with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to design Robonaut, a humanoid robot developed to assist astronauts with Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA) such as space structure assembly and repair operations. By working side-by-side with astronauts or going where risks are too great for people, Robonaut is expected to expand the Space Agency s ability for construction and discovery. NASA engineers equipped Robonaut with human-looking, dexterous hands complete with five fingers to accomplish its tasks. The Robonaut hand is one of the first being developed for space EVA use and is the closest in size and capability to a suited astronaut s hand. As part of the development process, an advanced sensor system was needed to provide an improved method to measure the movement and forces exerted by Robonaut s forearms and hands.

Calibration of a flexible measurement system based on industrial articulated robot and structured light sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mu, Nan; Wang, Kun; Xie, Zexiao; Ren, Ping

2017-05-01

To realize online rapid measurement for complex workpieces, a flexible measurement system based on an articulated industrial robot with a structured light sensor mounted on the end-effector is developed. A method for calibrating the system parameters is proposed in which the hand-eye transformation parameters and the robot kinematic parameters are synthesized in the calibration process. An initial hand-eye calibration is first performed using a standard sphere as the calibration target. By applying the modified complete and parametrically continuous method, we establish a synthesized kinematic model that combines the initial hand-eye transformation and distal link parameters as a whole with the sensor coordinate system as the tool frame. According to the synthesized kinematic model, an error model is constructed based on spheres' center-to-center distance errors. Consequently, the error model parameters can be identified in a calibration experiment using a three-standard-sphere target. Furthermore, the redundancy of error model parameters is eliminated to ensure the accuracy and robustness of the parameter identification. Calibration and measurement experiments are carried out based on an ER3A-C60 robot. The experimental results show that the proposed calibration method enjoys high measurement accuracy, and this efficient and flexible system is suitable for online measurement in industrial scenes.

Effects of morphine on respiratory load detection, load magnitude perception and tactile sensation in obstructive sleep apnea.

PubMed

Tomazini Martins, Rodrigo; Carberry, Jayne C; Gandevia, Simon C; Butler, Jane E; Eckert, Danny J

2018-04-26

Pharyngeal and respiratory sensation is impaired in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Opioids may further diminish respiratory sensation. Thus, protective pharyngeal neuromuscular and arousal responses to airway occlusion that rely on respiratory sensation could be impaired with opioids to worsen OSA severity. However, little is known about the effects of opioids on upper airway and respiratory sensation in people with OSA. This study was designed to determine the effects of 40mg of MS-Contin on tactile sensation, respiratory load detection and respiratory magnitude perception in people with OSA during wakefulness. A double-blind, randomized, cross-over design (1 week wash-out) was used. 21 men with untreated OSA (apnea/hypopnea index=26{plus minus}17events/h) recruited from a larger clinical study completed the protocol. Tactile sensation using von Frey filaments on the back of the hand, internal mucosa of the cheek, uvula and posterior pharyngeal wall were not different between placebo and morphine (e.g. posterior wall=0.16[0.16,0.4]vs. 0.4[0.14,1.8]g, p=0.261). Similarly, compared to placebo, morphine did not alter respiratory load detection thresholds (nadir mask pressure detected=-2.05[-3.37,-1.55] vs. -2.19[-3.36,-1.41]cmH 2 O, p=0.767), or respiratory load magnitude perception (mean Borg scores during a 5 resistive load [range: 5-126cmH 2 O/L/s] protocol=4.5{plus minus}1.6 vs. 4.2{plus minus}1.2, p=0.347) but did reduce minute ventilation during quiet breathing (11.4{plus minus}3.3 vs. 10.7{plus minus}2.6L/min, p<0.01). These findings indicate that 40mg of MS-Contin does not systematically impair tactile or respiratory sensation in men with mild to moderate, untreated, OSA. This suggests that altered respiratory sensation to acute mechanical stimuli is not likely to be a mechanism that contributes to worsening of OSA with a moderate dose of morphine.

A Tactile Sensor Network System Using a Multiple Sensor Platform with a Dedicated CMOS-LSI for Robot Applications †

PubMed Central

Shao, Chenzhong; Tanaka, Shuji; Nakayama, Takahiro; Hata, Yoshiyuki; Bartley, Travis; Muroyama, Masanori

2017-01-01

Robot tactile sensation can enhance human–robot communication in terms of safety, reliability and accuracy. The final goal of our project is to widely cover a robot body with a large number of tactile sensors, which has significant advantages such as accurate object recognition, high sensitivity and high redundancy. In this study, we developed a multi-sensor system with dedicated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) Large-Scale Integration (LSI) circuit chips (referred to as “sensor platform LSI”) as a framework of a serial bus-based tactile sensor network system. The sensor platform LSI supports three types of sensors: an on-chip temperature sensor, off-chip capacitive and resistive tactile sensors, and communicates with a relay node via a bus line. The multi-sensor system was first constructed on a printed circuit board to evaluate basic functions of the sensor platform LSI, such as capacitance-to-digital and resistance-to-digital conversion. Then, two kinds of external sensors, nine sensors in total, were connected to two sensor platform LSIs, and temperature, capacitive and resistive sensing data were acquired simultaneously. Moreover, we fabricated flexible printed circuit cables to demonstrate the multi-sensor system with 15 sensor platform LSIs operating simultaneously, which showed a more realistic implementation in robots. In conclusion, the multi-sensor system with up to 15 sensor platform LSIs on a bus line supporting temperature, capacitive and resistive sensing was successfully demonstrated. PMID:29061954

A Tactile Sensor Network System Using a Multiple Sensor Platform with a Dedicated CMOS-LSI for Robot Applications.

PubMed

Shao, Chenzhong; Tanaka, Shuji; Nakayama, Takahiro; Hata, Yoshiyuki; Bartley, Travis; Nonomura, Yutaka; Muroyama, Masanori

2017-08-28

Robot tactile sensation can enhance human-robot communication in terms of safety, reliability and accuracy. The final goal of our project is to widely cover a robot body with a large number of tactile sensors, which has significant advantages such as accurate object recognition, high sensitivity and high redundancy. In this study, we developed a multi-sensor system with dedicated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) Large-Scale Integration (LSI) circuit chips (referred to as "sensor platform LSI") as a framework of a serial bus-based tactile sensor network system. The sensor platform LSI supports three types of sensors: an on-chip temperature sensor, off-chip capacitive and resistive tactile sensors, and communicates with a relay node via a bus line. The multi-sensor system was first constructed on a printed circuit board to evaluate basic functions of the sensor platform LSI, such as capacitance-to-digital and resistance-to-digital conversion. Then, two kinds of external sensors, nine sensors in total, were connected to two sensor platform LSIs, and temperature, capacitive and resistive sensing data were acquired simultaneously. Moreover, we fabricated flexible printed circuit cables to demonstrate the multi-sensor system with 15 sensor platform LSIs operating simultaneously, which showed a more realistic implementation in robots. In conclusion, the multi-sensor system with up to 15 sensor platform LSIs on a bus line supporting temperature, capacitive and resistive sensing was successfully demonstrated.

A study on a robot arm driven by three-dimensional trajectories predicted from non-invasive neural signals.

PubMed

Kim, Yoon Jae; Park, Sung Woo; Yeom, Hong Gi; Bang, Moon Suk; Kim, June Sic; Chung, Chun Kee; Kim, Sungwan

2015-08-20

A brain-machine interface (BMI) should be able to help people with disabilities by replacing their lost motor functions. To replace lost functions, robot arms have been developed that are controlled by invasive neural signals. Although invasive neural signals have a high spatial resolution, non-invasive neural signals are valuable because they provide an interface without surgery. Thus, various researchers have developed robot arms driven by non-invasive neural signals. However, robot arm control based on the imagined trajectory of a human hand can be more intuitive for patients. In this study, therefore, an integrated robot arm-gripper system (IRAGS) that is driven by three-dimensional (3D) hand trajectories predicted from non-invasive neural signals was developed and verified. The IRAGS was developed by integrating a six-degree of freedom robot arm and adaptive robot gripper. The system was used to perform reaching and grasping motions for verification. The non-invasive neural signals, magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG), were obtained to control the system. The 3D trajectories were predicted by multiple linear regressions. A target sphere was placed at the terminal point of the real trajectories, and the system was commanded to grasp the target at the terminal point of the predicted trajectories. The average correlation coefficient between the predicted and real trajectories in the MEG case was [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]). In the EEG case, it was [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]). The success rates in grasping the target plastic sphere were 18.75 and 7.50 % with MEG and EEG, respectively. The success rates of touching the target were 52.50 and 58.75 % respectively. A robot arm driven by 3D trajectories predicted from non-invasive neural signals was implemented, and reaching and grasping motions were performed. In most cases, the robot closely approached the target, but the success rate was not very high because the non-invasive neural signal is less accurate. However the success rate could be sufficiently improved for practical applications by using additional sensors. Robot arm control based on hand trajectories predicted from EEG would allow for portability, and the performance with EEG was comparable to that with MEG.

Intelligent control of robotic arm/hand systems for the NASA EVA retriever using neural networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mclauchlan, Robert A.

1989-01-01

Adaptive/general learning algorithms using varying neural network models are considered for the intelligent control of robotic arm plus dextrous hand/manipulator systems. Results are summarized and discussed for the use of the Barto/Sutton/Anderson neuronlike, unsupervised learning controller as applied to the stabilization of an inverted pendulum on a cart system. Recommendations are made for the application of the controller and a kinematic analysis for trajectory planning to simple object retrieval (chase/approach and capture/grasp) scenarios in two dimensions.

RoboGlove: Initial Work Toward a Robotically Assisted EVA Glove

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Jonathan

2015-01-01

The RoboGlove is a device designed to provide additional grip strength or endurance for a user. In applying this Robonaut 2 spinoff technology to the Phase VI Space Suit glove, the project is using robotic tendons and actuators to regain some of the hand performance that is lost when wearing a pressurized glove. An array of sensors embedded into the finger softgoods provides input to the control system which retracts the tendons, helping to close the user's hand. While active, this system provides augmentation, but is nonintrusive to glove usage when disabled.

Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy for Hand and Arm Pain

PubMed Central

Vranceanu, Ana-Maria; Safren, Steve

2016-01-01

Cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psychological treatment that emphasizes the interrelation among thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and sensations. CBT has been proved effective not only for treatment of psychological illness but also for teaching adaptive coping strategies in the context of chronic illnesses, including chronic pain. The present article provides general information on CBT, specific information on CBT for pain, as well as guidelines and strategies for using CBT for hand and arm pain patients, as part of multidisciplinary care models. PMID:21051204

Full High-definition three-dimensional gynaecological laparoscopy--clinical assessment of a new robot-assisted device.

PubMed

Tuschy, Benjamin; Berlit, Sebastian; Brade, Joachim; Sütterlin, Marc; Hornemann, Amadeus

2014-01-01

To investigate the clinical assessment of a full high-definition (HD) three-dimensional robot-assisted laparoscopic device in gynaecological surgery. This study included 70 women who underwent gynaecological laparoscopic procedures. Demographic parameters, type and duration of surgery and perioperative complications were analyzed. Fifteen surgeons were postoperatively interviewed regarding their assessment of this new system with a standardized questionnaire. The clinical assessment revealed that three-dimensional full-HD visualisation is comfortable and improves spatial orientation and hand-to-eye coordination. The majority of the surgeons stated they would prefer a three-dimensional system to a conventional two-dimensional device and stated that the robotic camera arm led to more relaxed working conditions. Three-dimensional laparoscopy is feasible, comfortable and well-accepted in daily routine. The three-dimensional visualisation improves surgeons' hand-to-eye coordination, intracorporeal suturing and fine dissection. The combination of full-HD three-dimensional visualisation with the robotic camera arm results in very high image quality and stability.

Assessment of personal care and medical robots from older adults' perspective.

PubMed

Goher, K M; Mansouri, N; Fadlallah, S O

2017-01-01

Demographic reports indicate that population of older adults is growing significantly over the world and in particular in developed nations. Consequently, there are a noticeable number of demands for certain services such as health-care systems and assistive medical robots and devices. In today's world, different types of robots play substantial roles specifically in medical sector to facilitate human life, especially older adults. Assistive medical robots and devices are created in various designs to fulfill specific needs of older adults. Though medical robots are utilized widely by senior citizens, it is dramatic to find out into what extent assistive robots satisfy their needs and expectations. This paper reviews various assessments of assistive medical robots from older adults' perspectives with the purpose of identifying senior citizen's needs, expectations, and preferences. On the other hand, these kinds of assessments inform robot designers, developers, and programmers to come up with robots fulfilling elderly's needs while improving their life quality.

Self-Organized Behavior Generation for Musculoskeletal Robots.

PubMed

Der, Ralf; Martius, Georg

2017-01-01

With the accelerated development of robot technologies, control becomes one of the central themes of research. In traditional approaches, the controller, by its internal functionality, finds appropriate actions on the basis of specific objectives for the task at hand. While very successful in many applications, self-organized control schemes seem to be favored in large complex systems with unknown dynamics or which are difficult to model. Reasons are the expected scalability, robustness, and resilience of self-organizing systems. The paper presents a self-learning neurocontroller based on extrinsic differential plasticity introduced recently, applying it to an anthropomorphic musculoskeletal robot arm with attached objects of unknown physical dynamics. The central finding of the paper is the following effect: by the mere feedback through the internal dynamics of the object, the robot is learning to relate each of the objects with a very specific sensorimotor pattern. Specifically, an attached pendulum pilots the arm into a circular motion, a half-filled bottle produces axis oriented shaking behavior, a wheel is getting rotated, and wiping patterns emerge automatically in a table-plus-brush setting. By these object-specific dynamical patterns, the robot may be said to recognize the object's identity, or in other words, it discovers dynamical affordances of objects. Furthermore, when including hand coordinates obtained from a camera, a dedicated hand-eye coordination self-organizes spontaneously. These phenomena are discussed from a specific dynamical system perspective. Central is the dedicated working regime at the border to instability with its potentially infinite reservoir of (limit cycle) attractors "waiting" to be excited. Besides converging toward one of these attractors, variate behavior is also arising from a self-induced attractor morphing driven by the learning rule. We claim that experimental investigations with this anthropomorphic, self-learning robot not only generate interesting and potentially useful behaviors, but may also help to better understand what subjective human muscle feelings are, how they can be rooted in sensorimotor patterns, and how these concepts may feed back on robotics.

Self-Organized Behavior Generation for Musculoskeletal Robots

PubMed Central

Der, Ralf; Martius, Georg

2017-01-01

With the accelerated development of robot technologies, control becomes one of the central themes of research. In traditional approaches, the controller, by its internal functionality, finds appropriate actions on the basis of specific objectives for the task at hand. While very successful in many applications, self-organized control schemes seem to be favored in large complex systems with unknown dynamics or which are difficult to model. Reasons are the expected scalability, robustness, and resilience of self-organizing systems. The paper presents a self-learning neurocontroller based on extrinsic differential plasticity introduced recently, applying it to an anthropomorphic musculoskeletal robot arm with attached objects of unknown physical dynamics. The central finding of the paper is the following effect: by the mere feedback through the internal dynamics of the object, the robot is learning to relate each of the objects with a very specific sensorimotor pattern. Specifically, an attached pendulum pilots the arm into a circular motion, a half-filled bottle produces axis oriented shaking behavior, a wheel is getting rotated, and wiping patterns emerge automatically in a table-plus-brush setting. By these object-specific dynamical patterns, the robot may be said to recognize the object's identity, or in other words, it discovers dynamical affordances of objects. Furthermore, when including hand coordinates obtained from a camera, a dedicated hand-eye coordination self-organizes spontaneously. These phenomena are discussed from a specific dynamical system perspective. Central is the dedicated working regime at the border to instability with its potentially infinite reservoir of (limit cycle) attractors “waiting” to be excited. Besides converging toward one of these attractors, variate behavior is also arising from a self-induced attractor morphing driven by the learning rule. We claim that experimental investigations with this anthropomorphic, self-learning robot not only generate interesting and potentially useful behaviors, but may also help to better understand what subjective human muscle feelings are, how they can be rooted in sensorimotor patterns, and how these concepts may feed back on robotics. PMID:28360852

An EEG/EOG-based hybrid brain-neural computer interaction (BNCI) system to control an exoskeleton for the paralyzed hand.

PubMed

Soekadar, Surjo R; Witkowski, Matthias; Vitiello, Nicola; Birbaumer, Niels

2015-06-01

The loss of hand function can result in severe physical and psychosocial impairment. Thus, compensation of a lost hand function using assistive robotics that can be operated in daily life is very desirable. However, versatile, intuitive, and reliable control of assistive robotics is still an unsolved challenge. Here, we introduce a novel brain/neural-computer interaction (BNCI) system that integrates electroencephalography (EEG) and electrooculography (EOG) to improve control of assistive robotics in daily life environments. To evaluate the applicability and performance of this hybrid approach, five healthy volunteers (HV) (four men, average age 26.5 ± 3.8 years) and a 34-year-old patient with complete finger paralysis due to a brachial plexus injury (BPI) used EEG (condition 1) and EEG/EOG (condition 2) to control grasping motions of a hand exoskeleton. All participants were able to control the BNCI system (BNCI control performance HV: 70.24 ± 16.71%, BPI: 65.93 ± 24.27%), but inclusion of EOG significantly improved performance across all participants (HV: 80.65 ± 11.28, BPI: 76.03 ± 18.32%). This suggests that hybrid BNCI systems can achieve substantially better control over assistive devices, e.g., a hand exoskeleton, than systems using brain signals alone and thus may increase applicability of brain-controlled assistive devices in daily life environments.

Performing mathematics activities with non-standard units of measurement using robots controlled via speech-generating devices: three case studies.

PubMed

Adams, Kim D; Cook, Albert M

2017-07-01

Purpose To examine how using a Lego robot controlled via a speech-generating device (SGD) can contribute to how students with physical and communication impairments perform hands-on and communicative mathematics measurement activities. This study was a follow-up to a previous study. Method Three students with cerebral palsy used the robot to measure objects using non-standard units, such as straws, and then compared and ordered the objects using the resulting measurement. Their performance was assessed, and the manipulation and communication events were observed. Teachers and education assistants were interviewed regarding robot use. Results Similar benefits to the previous study were found in this study. Gaps in student procedural knowledge were identified such as knowing to place measurement units tip-to-tip, and students' reporting revealed gaps in conceptual understanding. However, performance improved with repeated practice. Stakeholders identified that some robot tasks took too long or were too difficult to perform. Conclusions Having access to both their SGD and a robot gave the students multiple ways to show their understanding of the measurement concepts. Though they could participate actively in the new mathematics activities, robot use is most appropriate in short tasks requiring reasonable operational skill. Implications for Rehabilitation Lego robots controlled via speech-generating devices (SGDs) can help students to engage in the mathematics pedagogy of performing hands-on activities while communicating about concepts. Students can "show what they know" using the Lego robots, and report and reflect on concepts using the SGD. Level 1 and Level 2 mathematics measurement activities have been adapted to be accomplished by the Lego robot. Other activities can likely be accomplished with similar robot adaptations (e.g., gripper, pen). It is not recommended to use the robot to measure items that are long, or perform measurements that require high operational competence in order to be successful.

Spline-Screw Payload-Fastening System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vranish, John M.

1994-01-01

Payload handed off securely between robot and vehicle or structure. Spline-screw payload-fastening system includes mating female and male connector mechanisms. Clockwise (or counter-clockwise) rotation of splined male driver on robotic end effector causes connection between robot and payload to tighten (or loosen) and simultaneously causes connection between payload and structure to loosen (or tighten). Includes mechanisms like those described in "Tool-Changing Mechanism for Robot" (GSC-13435) and "Self-Aligning Mechanical and Electrical Coupling" (GSC-13430). Designed for use in outer space, also useful on Earth in applications needed for secure handling and secure mounting of equipment modules during storage, transport, and/or operation. Particularly useful in machine or robotic applications.

Student teams prepare robots for regional competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

These students from Astronaut High and Titusville High Schools, in Brevard County, Florida, known as the CombBat Team, make adjustments on their robot entered in the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex March 4-6. Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

[Robotic general surgery: where do we stand in 2013?].

PubMed

Buchs, Nicolas C; Pugin, François; Ris, Frédéric; Jung, Minoa; Hagen, Monika E; Volonté, Francesco; Azagury, Dan; Morel, Philippe

2013-06-19

While the number of publications concerning robotic surgery is increasing, the level of evidence remains to be improved. The safety of robotic approach has been largely demonstrated, even for complex procedures. Yet, the objective advantages of this technology are still lacking in several fields, notably in comparison to laparoscopy. On the other hand, the development of robotic surgery is on its way, as the enthusiasm of the public and the surgical community can testify. Still, clear clinical indications remain to be determined in the field of general surgery. The study aim is to review the current literature on robotic general surgery and to give the reader an overview in 2013.

KSC-99pp0268

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-03-04

Student teams (background) maneuver their robots on the playing field during practice rounds of the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. As one of their goals, the robots have to retrieve pillow-like disks from the floor. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers

Real-World Evolution of Robot Morphologies: A Proof of Concept.

PubMed

Jelisavcic, Milan; de Carlo, Matteo; Hupkes, Elte; Eustratiadis, Panagiotis; Orlowski, Jakub; Haasdijk, Evert; Auerbach, Joshua E; Eiben, A E

2017-01-01

Evolutionary robotics using real hardware has been almost exclusively restricted to evolving robot controllers, but the technology for evolvable morphologies is advancing quickly. We discuss a proof-of-concept study to demonstrate real robots that can reproduce. Following a general system plan, we implement a robotic habitat that contains all system components in the simplest possible form. We create an initial population of two robots and run a complete life cycle, resulting in a new robot, parented by the first two. Even though the individual steps are simplified to the maximum, the whole system validates the underlying concepts and provides a generic workflow for the creation of more complex incarnations. This hands-on experience provides insights and helps us elaborate on interesting research directions for future development.

Referees check robots after qualifying match at regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Referees check the robots on the floor of the playing field after a qualifying match of the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The robots have to retrieve pillow- like disks from the floor, as well as climb onto the platform (with flags) and raise the cache of pillows to a height of eight feet. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Revealing the neural fingerprints of a missing hand.

PubMed

Kikkert, Sanne; Kolasinski, James; Jbabdi, Saad; Tracey, Irene; Beckmann, Christian F; Johansen-Berg, Heidi; Makin, Tamar R

2016-08-23

The hand area of the primary somatosensory cortex contains detailed finger topography, thought to be shaped and maintained by daily life experience. Here we utilise phantom sensations and ultra high-field neuroimaging to uncover preserved, though latent, representation of amputees' missing hand. We show that representation of the missing hand's individual fingers persists in the primary somatosensory cortex even decades after arm amputation. By demonstrating stable topography despite amputation, our finding questions the extent to which continued sensory input is necessary to maintain organisation in sensory cortex, thereby reopening the question what happens to a cortical territory once its main input is lost. The discovery of persistent digit topography of amputees' missing hand could be exploited for the development of intuitive and fine-grained control of neuroprosthetics, requiring neural signals of individual digits.

Development and Assessment of a Transoral Robotic Surgery Curriculum to Train Otolaryngology Residents.

PubMed

White, Joseph; Sharma, Arun

2018-05-30

(1) To develop a multifaceted didactic and hands-on curriculum to prepare otolaryngology residents to perform transoral robotic surgery (TORS) and safely transition to the operating room. (2) To assess the effectiveness of the TORS curriculum. Learning objectives were developed and a curriculum was formulated utilizing five unique modalities: focused didactic reading, online training modules, backpack console simulations, videos of TORS cases, and hands-on cadaveric dissections with the robotic surgical system in a simulated operating room. The trainees completed a nine-item self-assessment of their skill level using a Likert scale. Five senior otolaryngology residents completed the TORS curriculum. Before and after the cadaveric dissections, there was improvement in each of the nine items assessed. Composite scores were calculated and there was significant improvement from predissection (15.2 ± 2.2) to postdissection (31.4 ± 1.9) (p = 0.002). The current study demonstrates the feasibility of implementing a multifaceted TORS curriculum which incorporates robotic cadaveric dissection for otolaryngology residents. Residents demonstrate marked improvement in skills with the TORS curriculum. A TORS curriculum which includes robotic cadaveric dissection can improve surgical skills and serve as a key component of residency TORS education. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Mobile robot knowledge base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heath Pastore, Tracy; Barnes, Mitchell; Hallman, Rory

2005-05-01

Robot technology is developing at a rapid rate for both commercial and Department of Defense (DOD) applications. As a result, the task of managing both technology and experience information is growing. In the not-to-distant past, tracking development efforts of robot platforms, subsystems and components was not too difficult, expensive, or time consuming. To do the same today is a significant undertaking. The Mobile Robot Knowledge Base (MRKB) provides the robotics community with a web-accessible, centralized resource for sharing information, experience, and technology to more efficiently and effectively meet the needs of the robot system user. The resource includes searchable information on robot components, subsystems, mission payloads, platforms, and DOD robotics programs. In addition, the MRKB website provides a forum for technology and information transfer within the DOD robotics community and an interface for the Robotic Systems Pool (RSP). The RSP manages a collection of small teleoperated and semi-autonomous robotic platforms, available for loan to DOD and other qualified entities. The objective is to put robots in the hands of users and use the test data and fielding experience to improve robot systems.

Student teams practice for regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

During practice rounds of the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, team members adjust components of their robot on the floor. Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The robots have to retrieve pillow-like disks from the floor, as well as climb onto a platform and raise the cache of pillows to a height of eight feet. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Robotics in invasive cardiac electrophysiology.

PubMed

Shurrab, Mohammed; Schilling, Richard; Gang, Eli; Khan, Ejaz M; Crystal, Eugene

2014-07-01

Robotic systems allow for mapping and ablation of different arrhythmia substrates replacing hand maneuvering of intracardiac catheters with machine steering. Currently there are four commercially available robotic systems. Niobe magnetic navigation system (Stereotaxis Inc., St Louis, MO) and Sensei robotic navigation system (Hansen Medical Inc., Mountain View, CA) have an established platform with at least 10 years of clinical studies looking at their efficacy and safety. AMIGO Remote Catheter System (Catheter Robotics, Inc., Mount Olive, NJ) and Catheter Guidance Control and Imaging (Magnetecs, Inglewood, CA) are in the earlier phases of implementations with ongoing feasibility and some limited clinical studies. This review discusses the advantages and limitations related to each existing system and highlights the ideal futuristic robotic system that may include the most promising features of the current ones.

Lending a Helping Hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

Barrett Technology, Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts, received the 2003 Robotic Industries Association s Joseph Engelberger Award for Technology Leadership based on successful commercialization of its novel robotic manipulators. Designed for applications requiring superior adaptability, programmability, and dexterity, Barrett s devices provide state-of-the-art functionality and capability, as well as product integration with existing technology. The cutting-edge robotic manipulators originated through collaboration with NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Air Force.

Design-validation of a hand exoskeleton using musculoskeletal modeling.

PubMed

Hansen, Clint; Gosselin, Florian; Ben Mansour, Khalil; Devos, Pierre; Marin, Frederic

2018-04-01

Exoskeletons are progressively reaching homes and workplaces, allowing interaction with virtual environments, remote control of robots, or assisting human operators in carrying heavy loads. Their design is however still a challenge as these robots, being mechanically linked to the operators who wear them, have to meet ergonomic constraints besides usual robotic requirements in terms of workspace, speed, or efforts. They have in particular to fit the anthropometry and mobility of their users. This traditionally results in numerous prototypes which are progressively fitted to each individual person. In this paper, we propose instead to validate the design of a hand exoskeleton in a fully digital environment, without the need for a physical prototype. The purpose of this study is thus to examine whether finger kinematics are altered when using a given hand exoskeleton. Therefore, user specific musculoskeletal models were created and driven by a motion capture system to evaluate the fingers' joint kinematics when performing two industrial related tasks. The kinematic chain of the exoskeleton was added to the musculoskeletal models and its compliance with the hand movements was evaluated. Our results show that the proposed exoskeleton design does not influence fingers' joints angles, the coefficient of determination between the model with and without exoskeleton being consistently high (R 2 ¯=0.93) and the nRMSE consistently low (nRMSE¯ = 5.42°). These results are promising and this approach combining musculoskeletal and robotic modeling driven by motion capture data could be a key factor in the ergonomics validation of the design of orthotic devices and exoskeletons prior to manufacturing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Force reflecting hand controller for manipulator teleoperation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bryfogle, Mark D.

1991-01-01

A force reflecting hand controller based upon a six degree of freedom fully parallel mechanism, often termed a Stewart Platform, has been designed, constructed, and tested as an integrated system with a slave robot manipulator test bed. A force reflecting hand controller comprises a kinesthetic device capable of transmitting position and orientation commands to a slave robot manipulator while simultaneously representing the environmental interaction forces of the slave manipulator back to the operator through actuators driving the hand controller mechanism. The Stewart Platform was chosen as a novel approach to improve force reflecting teleoperation because of its inherently high ratio of load generation capability to system mass content and the correspondingly high dynamic bandwidth. An additional novelty of the program was to implement closed loop force and torque control about the hand controller mechanism by equipping the handgrip with a six degree of freedom force and torque measuring cell. The mechanical, electrical, computer, and control systems are discussed and system tests are presented.

High-pressure Injection Injuries of the Hand.

PubMed

Cannon, Tyler A

2016-07-01

High-pressure injection hand injuries are often overlooked, with severe complications owing to the acute inflammatory response. Prognosis for depends on the type of material injected, location of injection, involved pressure, and timing to surgical decompression and debridement. Acute management involves broad-spectrum antibiotics, tetanus prophylaxis, emergent decompression within 6 hours, and complete removal of the injected material. Most patients have residual sequelae of stiffness, pain, sensation loss, and difficulties in returning to work. The hand surgeon's role is prompt surgical intervention, early postoperative motion, and education of patient and staff regarding short- and long-term expectations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of vibration exposure during haul truck operation on grip strength, touch sensation, and balance

PubMed Central

Pollard, Jonisha; Porter, William; Mayton, Alan; Xu, Xueyan; Weston, Eric

2017-01-01

Falls from mobile equipment are reported at surface mine quarry operations each year in considerable numbers. Research shows that a preponderance of falls occur while getting on/off mobile equipment. Contributing factors to the risk of falls include the usage of ladders, exiting onto a slippery surface, and foot or hand slippage. Balance issues may also contribute to fall risks for mobile equipment operators who are exposed to whole-body vibration (WBV). For this reason, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Office of Mine Safety and Health Research conducted a study at four participating mine sites with seven haul truck operators. The purpose was to ascertain whether WBV and hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposures for quarry haul truck operators were linked to short-term decreases in performance in relation to postural stability, touch sensation threshold, and grip strength that are of crucial importance when getting on/off the trucks. WBV measures of frequency-weighted RMS accelerations (wRMS) and vibration dose value (VDV), when compared to the ISO/ANSI standards, were mostly below levels identified for the Health Guidance Caution Zone (HGCZ), although there were instances where the levels were within and above the specified Exposure Action Value. Comparably, all mean HAV levels, when compared to the ISO/ANSI standards, were below the HGCZ. For the existing conditions and equipment, no significant correlation could be identified between the WBV, HAV, postural stability, touch sensation threshold, and grip strength measures taken during this study. PMID:28220051

Decrease of spasticity after hybrid assistive limb® training for a patient with C4 quadriplegia due to chronic SCI.

PubMed

Ikumi, Akira; Kubota, Shigeki; Shimizu, Yukiyo; Kadone, Hideki; Marushima, Aiki; Ueno, Tomoyuki; Kawamoto, Hiroaki; Hada, Yasushi; Matsumura, Akira; Sankai, Yoshiyuki; Yamazaki, Masashi

2017-09-01

Recently, locomotor training with robotic assistance has been found effective in treating spinal cord injury (SCI). Our case report examined locomotor training using the robotic suit hybrid assistive limb (HAL) in a patient with complete C4 quadriplegia due to chronic SCI. This is the first report examining HAL in complete C4 quadriplegia. The patient was a 19-year-old man who dislocated C3/4 during judo 4 years previously. Following the injury, he underwent C3/4 posterior spinal fusion but remained paralyzed despite rehabilitation. There was muscle atrophy under C5 level and no sensation around the anus, but partial sensation of pressure remained in the limbs. The American Spinal Injury Association impairment scale was Grade A (complete motor C4 lesion). HAL training was administered in 10 sessions (twice per week). The training sessions consisted of treadmill walking with HAL. For safety, 2 physicians and 1 therapist supported the subject for balance and weight-bearing. The device's cybernic autonomous control mode provides autonomic physical support based on predefined walking patterns. We evaluated the adverse events, walking time and distance, and the difference in muscle spasticity before and after HAL-training using a modified Ashworth scale (mAs). No adverse events were observed that required discontinuation of rehabilitation. Walking distance and time increased from 25.2 meters/7.6 minutes to 148.3 meter/15 minutes. The mAs score decreased after HAL training. Our case report indicates that HAL training is feasible and effective for complete C4 quadriplegia in chronic SCI.

Teleoperation of Robonaut Using Finger Tracking

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Champoux, Rachel G.; Luo, Victor

2012-01-01

With the advent of new finger tracking systems, the idea of a more expressive and intuitive user interface is being explored and implemented. One practical application for this new kind of interface is that of teleoperating a robot. For humanoid robots, a finger tracking interface is required due to the level of complexity in a human-like hand, where a joystick isn't accurate. Moreover, for some tasks, using one's own hands allows the user to communicate their intentions more effectively than other input. The purpose of this project was to develop a natural user interface for someone to teleoperate a robot that is elsewhere. Specifically, this was designed to control Robonaut on the international space station to do tasks too dangerous and/or too trivial for human astronauts. This interface was developed by integrating and modifying 3Gear's software, which includes a library of gestures and the ability to track hands. The end result is an interface in which the user can manipulate objects in real time in the user interface. then, the information is relayed to a simulator, the stand in for Robonaut, at a slight delay.

Tactile device utilizing a single magnetorheological sponge: experimental investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Soomin; Kim, Pyunghwa; Choi, Seung-Hyun; Oh, Jong-Seok; Choi, Seung-Bok

2015-04-01

In the field of medicine, several new areas have been currently introduced such as robot-assisted surgery. However, the major drawback of these systems is that there is no tactile communication between doctors and surgical sites. When the tactile system is brought up, telemedicine including telerobotic surgery can be enhanced much more than now. In this study, a new tactile device is designed using a single magnetorhological (MR) sponge cell to realize the sensation of human organs. MR fluids and an open celled polyurethane foam are used to propose the MR sponge cell. The viscous and elastic sensational behaviors of human organs are realized by the MR sponge cell. Before developing the tactile device, tactile sensation according to touch of human fingers are quantified in advance. The finger is then treated as a reduced beam bundle model (BBM) in which the fingertip is comprised of an elastic beam virtually. Under the reduced BBM, when people want to sense an object, the fingertip is investigated by pushing and sliding. Accordingly, while several magnitudes of magnetic fields are applied to the tactile device, normal and tangential reaction forces and bending moment are measured by 6-axis force/torque sensor instead of the fingertip. These measured data are used to compare with soft tissues. It is demonstrated that the proposed MR sponge cell can realize any part of the organ based on the obtained data.

STEM Engagement and Robotics Workshops in the Community

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pontius, Nicholas S.

2013-01-01

It is my objective to inspire and engage students and the public in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through hands on STEM activities during the City of Palmdale's Thursday Nights on the Square (TNOTS) as well as various robotics workshops throughout the AV and the San Bernardino County.

Touch Sensor for Robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Primus, H. C.

1986-01-01

Touch sensor for robot hands provides information about shape of grasped object and force exerted by gripper on object. Pins projecting from sensor create electrical signals when pressed. When grasped object depresses pin, it contacts electrode under it, connecting electrode to common electrode. Sensor indicates where, and how firmly, gripper has touched object.

Exciting Students through VEX Robotic Competitions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Trevor P.; Stewardson, Gary A.

2012-01-01

Robotic competitions continue to gain popularity in the educational community as a way to engage students in hands-on learning that can raise a student's interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In 1992, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) held its first competition and presented a style of…

Design of a Reconfigurable Robotic System for Flexoextension Fitted to Hand Fingers Size

PubMed Central

Castillo-Castaneda, Eduardo

2016-01-01

Due to the growing demand for assistance in rehabilitation therapies for hand movements, a robotic system is proposed to mobilize the hand fingers in flexion and extension exercises. The robotic system is composed by four, type slider-crank, mechanisms that have the ability to fit the user fingers length from the index to the little finger, through the adjustment of only one link for each mechanism. The trajectory developed by each mechanism corresponds to the natural flexoextension path of each finger. The amplitude of the rotations for metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP) varies from 0 to 90° and the distal interphalangeal joint (DIP) varies from 0 to 60°; the joint rotations are coordinated naturally. The four R-RRT mechanisms orientation allows a 15° abduction movement for index, ring, and little fingers. The kinematic analysis of this mechanism was developed in order to assure that the displacement speed and smooth acceleration into the desired range of motion and the simulation results are presented. The reconfiguration of mechanisms covers about 95% of hand sizes of a group of Mexican adult population. Maximum trajectory tracking error is less than 3% in full range of movement and it can be compensated by the additional rotation of finger joints without injury to the user. PMID:27524880

Observation-based training for neuroprosthetic control of grasping by amputees.

PubMed

Agashe, Harshavardhan A; Contreras-Vidal, Jose L

2014-01-01

Current brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) allow upper limb amputees to position robotic arms with a high degree of accuracy, but lack the ability to control hand pre-shaping for grasping different objects. We have previously shown that low frequency (0.1-1 Hz) time domain cortical activity recorded at the scalp via electroencephalography (EEG) encodes information about grasp pre-shaping. To transfer this technology to clinical populations such as amputees, the challenge lies in constructing BMI models in the absence of overt training hand movements. Here we show that it is possible to train BMI models using observed grasping movements performed by a robotic hand attached to amputees' residual limb. Three transradial amputees controlled the grasping motion of an attached robotic hand via their EEG, following the action-observation training phase. Over multiple sessions, subjects successfully grasped the presented object (a bottle or a credit card) in 53±16 % of trials, demonstrating the validity of the BMI models. Importantly, the validation of the BMI model was through closed-loop performance, which demonstrates generalization of the model to unseen data. These results suggest `mirror neuron system' properties captured by delta band EEG that allows neural representation for action observation to be used for action control in an EEG-based BMI system.

Design of a Reconfigurable Robotic System for Flexoextension Fitted to Hand Fingers Size.

PubMed

Aguilar-Pereyra, J Felipe; Castillo-Castaneda, Eduardo

2016-01-01

Due to the growing demand for assistance in rehabilitation therapies for hand movements, a robotic system is proposed to mobilize the hand fingers in flexion and extension exercises. The robotic system is composed by four, type slider-crank, mechanisms that have the ability to fit the user fingers length from the index to the little finger, through the adjustment of only one link for each mechanism. The trajectory developed by each mechanism corresponds to the natural flexoextension path of each finger. The amplitude of the rotations for metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP) varies from 0 to 90° and the distal interphalangeal joint (DIP) varies from 0 to 60°; the joint rotations are coordinated naturally. The four R-RRT mechanisms orientation allows a 15° abduction movement for index, ring, and little fingers. The kinematic analysis of this mechanism was developed in order to assure that the displacement speed and smooth acceleration into the desired range of motion and the simulation results are presented. The reconfiguration of mechanisms covers about 95% of hand sizes of a group of Mexican adult population. Maximum trajectory tracking error is less than 3% in full range of movement and it can be compensated by the additional rotation of finger joints without injury to the user.

Robotic transverse colectomy for mid-transverse colon cancer: surgical techniques and oncologic outcomes.

PubMed

Jung, Kyung Uk; Park, Yoonah; Lee, Kang Young; Sohn, Seung-Kook

2015-06-01

Robot-assisted surgery for colon cancer has been reported in many studies, most of which worked on right and/or sigmoid colectomy. The aim of this study was to report our experience of robotic transverse colectomy with an intracorporeal anastomosis, provide details of the surgical technique, and present the theoretical benefits of the procedure. This is a retrospective review of prospectively collected data of robotic surgery for colorectal cancer performed by a single surgeon between May 2007 and February 2011. Out of 162 consecutive cases, we identified three robotic transverse colectomies, using a hand-sewn intracorporeal anastomosis. Two males and one female underwent transverse colectomies for malignant or premalignant disease. The mean docking time, time spent using the robot, and total operative time were 5, 268, and 307 min, respectively. There were no conversions to open or conventional laparoscopic technique. The mean length of specimen and number of lymph nodes retrieved were 14.1 cm and 6.7, respectively. One patient suffered from a wound seroma and recovered with conservative management. The mean hospital stay was 8.7 days. After a median follow-up of 72 months, there were no local or systemic recurrences. Robotic transverse colectomy seems to be a safe and feasible technique. It may minimize the necessity of mobilizing both colonic flexures, with facilitated intracorporeal hand-sewn anastomosis. However, further prospective studies with a larger number of patients are required to draw firm conclusions.

Unintentional Changes in the Apparent Stiffness of the Multi-Joint Limb

PubMed Central

Zhou, Tao; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2015-01-01

We explored the phenomenon of unintentional changes in the apparent stiffness of the human arm produced by transient changes in the external force. The subjects performed a positional task against a constant baseline force and were instructed not to react to changes in the force. A HapticMaster robot produced a smooth force increase (a perturbation) leading to a hand movement, followed by a dwell time. No visible hand drift was observed during the dwell time. After the robot force dropped to its initial baseline value, the hand moved towards the initial position but stopped short of it. Small perturbations were applied at different time intervals along different directions during the dwell time. Arm apparent stiffness distribution in a horizontal plane was approximated with an ellipse. The apparent stiffness magnitude along the main axis of the ellipse showed a non-monotonic increase with dwell time while the apparent stiffness along the minor axis did not change significantly. We interpreted the early part of the changes in the apparent stiffness as due to peripheral muscle properties. The later part is interpreted as caused by a combination of two processes, a drift in the referent hand coordinate due to the hypothesized back-coupling between the referent and actual hand coordinates and an implicit instruction to keep the hand steady when no changes in robot-generated force took place. The data provide support for the idea of back-coupling between the referent and actual body configurations, which may be an important contributor to stability of motor actions. PMID:26169103

Design and Implementation of a Compact Master-Slave Robotic System with Force Feedback and Energy Recycling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Chunguang; Inoue, Yoshio; Liu, Tao; Shibata, Kyoko; Oka, Koichi

Master-slave control is becoming increasingly popular in the development of robotic systems which can provide rehabilitation training for hemiplegic patients with a unilaterally disabled limb. However, the system structures and control strategies of existent master-slave systems are always complex. An innovative master-slave system implementing force feedback and motion tracking for a rehabilitation robot is presented in this paper. The system consists of two identical motors with a wired connection, and the two motors are located at the master and slave manipulator sites respectively. The slave motor tracks the motion of the master motor directly driven by a patient. As well, the interaction force produced at the slave site is fed back to the patient. Therefore, the impaired limb driven by the slave motor can imitate the motion of the healthy limb controlling the master motor, and the patient can regulate the control force of the healthy limb properly according to the force sensation. The force sensing and motion tracking are achieved simultaneously with neither force sensors nor sophisticated control algorithms. The system is characterized by simple structure, bidirectional controllability, energy recycling, and force feedback without a force sensor. Test experiments on a prototype were conducted, and the results appraise the advantages of the system and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed control scheme for a rehabilitation robot.

Detection of Optogenetic Stimulation in Somatosensory Cortex by Non-Human Primates - Towards Artificial Tactile Sensation

PubMed Central

Brush, Benjamin; Borton, David; Wagner, Fabien; Agha, Naubahar; Sheinberg, David L.; Nurmikko, Arto V.

2014-01-01

Neuroprosthesis research aims to enable communication between the brain and external assistive devices while restoring lost functionality such as occurs from stroke, spinal cord injury or neurodegenerative diseases. In future closed-loop sensorimotor prostheses, one approach is to use neuromodulation as direct stimulus to the brain to compensate for a lost sensory function and help the brain to integrate relevant information for commanding external devices via, e.g. movement intention. Current neuromodulation techniques rely mainly of electrical stimulation. Here we focus specifically on the question of eliciting a biomimetically relevant sense of touch by direct stimulus of the somatosensory cortex by introducing optogenetic techniques as an alternative to electrical stimulation. We demonstrate that light activated opsins can be introduced to target neurons in the somatosensory cortex of non-human primates and be optically activated to create a reliably detected sensation which the animal learns to interpret as a tactile sensation localized within the hand. The accomplishment highlighted here shows how optical stimulation of a relatively small group of mostly excitatory somatosensory neurons in the nonhuman primate brain is sufficient for eliciting a useful sensation from data acquired by simultaneous electrophysiology and from behavioral metrics. In this first report to date on optically neuromodulated behavior in the somatosensory cortex of nonhuman primates we do not yet dissect the details of the sensation the animals exerience or contrast it to those evoked by electrical stimulation, issues of considerable future interest. PMID:25541938

Roboter in der Raumfahrt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirzinger, G.

(Robots in space)—The paper emphasizes the enormous automation impact in industry caused by microelectronics, a "byproduct" of space-technology. The evolutionary stages of robotic are outlined and it is shown that there are a lot of reasons for more automation, artificial intelligence and robotic in space, too. The telemanipulator concept is compared with the industrial robot concept, both showing up an increasing degree of similarity. The state of the art in sensory systems is discussed. By hand of the typical operations needed in space as rendezvous, assembly and docking the required robot skill is indicated. As a conclusion it is stated that the basic technologies available with industrial robots today could solve a lot of space problems. What remains to do—apart of course from ongoing research—is better integration and adaption of industrial techniques to the need of space technology.

Student teams maneuver robots in qualifying match at regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

All four robots, maneuvered by student teams behind protective walls, converge on a corner of the playing field during qualifying matches of the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The robots have to retrieve pillow- like disks from the floor, as well as climb onto the platform (with flags) and raise the cache of pillows to a height of eight feet. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Multidigit force control during unconstrained grasping in response to object perturbations

PubMed Central

Haschke, Robert; Ritter, Helge; Santello, Marco; Ernst, Marc O.

2017-01-01

Because of the complex anatomy of the human hand, in the absence of external constraints, a large number of postures and force combinations can be used to attain a stable grasp. Motor synergies provide a viable strategy to solve this problem of motor redundancy. In this study, we exploited the technical advantages of an innovative sensorized object to study unconstrained hand grasping within the theoretical framework of motor synergies. Participants were required to grasp, lift, and hold the sensorized object. During the holding phase, we repetitively applied external disturbance forces and torques and recorded the spatiotemporal distribution of grip forces produced by each digit. We found that the time to reach the maximum grip force during each perturbation was roughly equal across fingers, consistent with a synchronous, synergistic stiffening across digits. We further evaluated this hypothesis by comparing the force distribution of human grasping vs. robotic grasping, where the control strategy was set by the experimenter. We controlled the global hand stiffness of the robotic hand and found that this control algorithm produced a force pattern qualitatively similar to human grasping performance. Our results suggest that the nervous system uses a default whole hand synergistic control to maintain a stable grasp regardless of the number of digits involved in the task, their position on the objects, and the type and frequency of external perturbations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We studied hand grasping using a sensorized object allowing unconstrained finger placement. During object perturbation, the time to reach the peak force was roughly equal across fingers, consistently with a synergistic stiffening across fingers. Force distribution of a robotic grasping hand, where the control algorithm is based on global hand stiffness, was qualitatively similar to human grasping. This suggests that the central nervous system uses a default whole hand synergistic control to maintain a stable grasp. PMID:28228582

Telepresence master glove controller for dexterous robotic end-effectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fisher, Scott S.

1987-01-01

This paper describes recent research in the Aerospace Human Factors Research Division at NASA's Ames Research Center to develop a glove-like, control and data-recording device (DataGlove) that records and transmits to a host computer in real time, and at appropriate resolution, a numeric data-record of a user's hand/finger shape and dynamics. System configuration and performance specifications are detailed, and current research is discussed investigating its applications in operator control of dexterous robotic end-effectors and for use as a human factors research tool in evaluation of operator hand function requirements and performance in other specialized task environments.

Distributed proximity sensor system having embedded light emitters and detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Sukhan (Inventor)

1990-01-01

A distributed proximity sensor system is provided with multiple photosensitive devices and light emitters embedded on the surface of a robot hand or other moving member in a geometric pattern. By distributing sensors and emitters capable of detecting distances and angles to points on the surface of an object from known points in the geometric pattern, information is obtained for achieving noncontacting shape and distance perception, i.e., for automatic determination of the object's shape, direction and distance, as well as the orientation of the object relative to the robot hand or other moving member.

Small UGV platforms for unattended sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smuda, Bill; Gerhart, Grant

2005-10-01

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown the importance of sensor and robotic technology as a force multiplier and a tool for moving soldiers out of harms way. Situations on the ground make soldiers easy targets for snipers and suicide bombers. Sensors and robotics technology reduces risk to soldiers and other personnel at checkpoints, in access areas and on convoy routes. Early user involvement in innovative and aggressive acquisition and development strategies are the key to moving sensor and robotic and associated technology into the hands of the user, the soldier on the ground. This paper discusses activity associated with rapid development of the robotics, sensors and our field experience with robotics in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Robotic aortic surgery.

PubMed

Duran, Cassidy; Kashef, Elika; El-Sayed, Hosam F; Bismuth, Jean

2011-01-01

Surgical robotics was first utilized to facilitate neurosurgical biopsies in 1985, and it has since found application in orthopedics, urology, gynecology, and cardiothoracic, general, and vascular surgery. Surgical assistance systems provide intelligent, versatile tools that augment the physician's ability to treat patients by eliminating hand tremor and enabling dexterous operation inside the patient's body. Surgical robotics systems have enabled surgeons to treat otherwise untreatable conditions while also reducing morbidity and error rates, shortening operative times, reducing radiation exposure, and improving overall workflow. These capabilities have begun to be realized in two important realms of aortic vascular surgery, namely, flexible robotics for exclusion of complex aortic aneurysms using branched endografts, and robot-assisted laparoscopic aortic surgery for occlusive and aneurysmal disease.

Sensing and Force-Feedback Exoskeleton (SAFE) Robotic Glove.

PubMed

Ben-Tzvi, Pinhas; Ma, Zhou

2015-11-01

This paper presents the design, implementation and experimental validation of a novel robotic haptic exoskeleton device to measure the user's hand motion and assist hand motion while remaining portable and lightweight. The device consists of a five-finger mechanism actuated with miniature DC motors through antagonistically routed cables at each finger, which act as both active and passive force actuators. The SAFE Glove is a wireless and self-contained mechatronic system that mounts over the dorsum of a bare hand and provides haptic force feedback to each finger. The glove is adaptable to a wide variety of finger sizes without constraining the range of motion. This makes it possible to accurately and comfortably track the complex motion of the finger and thumb joints associated with common movements of hand functions, including grip and release patterns. The glove can be wirelessly linked to a computer for displaying and recording the hand status through 3D Graphical User Interface (GUI) in real-time. The experimental results demonstrate that the SAFE Glove is capable of reliably modeling hand kinematics, measuring finger motion and assisting hand grasping motion. Simulation and experimental results show the potential of the proposed system in rehabilitation therapy and virtual reality applications.

Smart Hand For Manipulators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiorini, Paolo

1987-10-01

Sensor based, computer controlled end effectors for mechanical arms are receiving more and more attention in the robotics industry, because commonly available grippers are only adequate for simple pick and place tasks. This paper describes the current status of the research at JPL on a smart hand for a Puma 560 robot arm. The hand is a self contained, autonomous system, capable of executing high level commands from a supervisory computer. The mechanism consists of parallel fingers, powered by a DC motor, and controlled by a microprocessor embedded in the hand housing. Special sensors are integrated in the hand for measuring the grasp force of the fingers, and for measuring forces and torques applied between the arm and the surrounding environment. Fingers can be exercised under position, velocity and force control modes. The single-chip microcomputer in the hand executes the tasks of communication, data acquisition and sensor based motor control, with a sample cycle of 2 ms and a transmission rate of 9600 baud. The smart hand described in this paper represents a new development in the area of end effector design because of its multi-functionality and autonomy. It will also be a versatile test bed for experimenting with advanced control schemes for dexterous manipulation.

Software and electronic developments for TUG - T60 robotic telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parmaksizoglu, M.; Dindar, M.; Kirbiyik, H.; Helhel, S.

2014-12-01

A robotic telescope is a telescope that can make observations without hands-on human control. Its low level behavior is automatic and computer-controlled. Robotic telescopes usually run under the control of a scheduler, which provides high-level control by selecting astronomical targets for observation. TUBITAK National Observatory (TUG) T60 Robotic Telescope is controlled by open source OCAAS software, formally named TALON. This study introduces the improvements on TALON software, new electronic and mechanic designs. The designs and software improvements were implemented in the T60 telescope control software and tested on the real system successfully.

An EMG Interface for the Control of Motion and Compliance of a Supernumerary Robotic Finger

PubMed Central

Hussain, Irfan; Spagnoletti, Giovanni; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a novel electromyographic (EMG) control interface to control motion and joints compliance of a supernumerary robotic finger. The supernumerary robotic fingers are a recently introduced class of wearable robotics that provides users additional robotic limbs in order to compensate or augment the existing abilities of natural limbs without substituting them. Since supernumerary robotic fingers are supposed to closely interact and perform actions in synergy with the human limbs, the control principles of extra finger should have similar behavior as human’s ones including the ability of regulating the compliance. So that, it is important to propose a control interface and to consider the actuators and sensing capabilities of the robotic extra finger compatible to implement stiffness regulation control techniques. We propose EMG interface and a control approach to regulate the compliance of the device through servo actuators. In particular, we use a commercial EMG armband for gesture recognition to be associated with the motion control of the robotic device and surface one channel EMG electrodes interface to regulate the compliance of the robotic device. We also present an updated version of a robotic extra finger where the adduction/abduction motion is realized through ball bearing and spur gears mechanism. We have validated the proposed interface with two sets of experiments related to compensation and augmentation. In the first set of experiments, different bimanual tasks have been performed with the help of the robotic device and simulating a paretic hand since this novel wearable system can be used to compensate the missing grasping abilities in chronic stroke patients. In the second set, the robotic extra finger is used to enlarge the workspace and manipulation capability of healthy hands. In both sets, the same EMG control interface has been used. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed control interface is intuitive and can successfully be used, not only to control the motion of a supernumerary robotic finger but also to regulate its compliance. The proposed approach can be exploited also for the control of different wearable devices that has to actively cooperate with the human limbs. PMID:27891088

Social humanoid robot SARA: development of the wrist mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penčić, M.; Rackov, M.; Čavić, M.; Kiss, I.; Cioată, V. G.

2018-01-01

This paper presents the development of a wrist mechanism for humanoid robots. The research was conducted within the project which develops social humanoid robot Sara - a mobile anthropomorphic platform for researching the social behaviour of robots. There are two basic ways for the realization of humanoid wrist. The first one is based on biologically inspired structures that have variable stiffness, and the second one on low backlash mechanisms that have high stiffness. Our solution is low backlash differential mechanism that requires small actuators. Based on the kinematic-dynamic requirements, a dynamic model of the robot wrist is formed. A dynamic simulation for several hand positions was performed and the driving torques of the wrist mechanism were determined. The realized wrist has 2 DOFs and enables movements in the direction of flexion/extension 115°, ulnar/radial deviation ±45° and the combination of these two movements. It consists of a differential mechanism with three spur bevel gears, two of which are driving and identical, while the last one is the driven gear to which the robot hand is attached. Power transmission and motion from the actuator to the input links of the differential mechanism is realized with two parallel placed identical gear mechanisms. The wrist mechanism has high carrying capacity and reliability, high efficiency, a compact design and low backlash that provides high positioning accuracy and repeatability of movements, which is essential for motion control.

30 CFR 75.1502 - Mine emergency evacuation and firefighting program of instruction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... through a realistic SCSR training unit or device that provides the sensation of SCSR airflow resistance... of approval, the operator shall conduct training in accordance with the revised program. (b) New or... self-rescue devices, including hands-on training in the complete donning and transferring of all types...

30 CFR 75.1502 - Mine emergency evacuation and firefighting program of instruction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... through a realistic SCSR training unit or device that provides the sensation of SCSR airflow resistance... of approval, the operator shall conduct training in accordance with the revised program. (b) New or... self-rescue devices, including hands-on training in the complete donning and transferring of all types...

30 CFR 75.1502 - Mine emergency evacuation and firefighting program of instruction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... through a realistic SCSR training unit or device that provides the sensation of SCSR airflow resistance... of approval, the operator shall conduct training in accordance with the revised program. (b) New or... self-rescue devices, including hands-on training in the complete donning and transferring of all types...

Restoration of Trigeminal Cutaneous Sensation with Cross-Face Sural Nerve Grafts: A Novel Approach to Facial Sensory Rehabilitation.

PubMed

Catapano, Joseph; Scholl, David; Ho, Emily; Zuker, Ronald M; Borschel, Gregory H

2015-09-01

Although treating facial palsy is considered debilitating for patients, trigeminal nerve palsy and sensory deficits of the face are overlooked components of disability. Complete anesthesia leaves patients susceptible to occult injury, and facial sensation is an important component of interaction and activities of daily living. Sensory reconstruction is well established in the restoration of hand sensation; however, only one previous report proposed a surgical strategy for sensory nerve reconstruction of the face with use of nerve transfers. Nerve transfers, when used alone, have limited application because of their restricted arc of rotation in the face; extending their arc by adding nerve grafts greatly expands their utility. The following cases demonstrate the early results after V2 and V3 reconstruction with cross-face nerve grafts in three patients with acquired trigeminal nerve palsy. Cross-face nerve grafts using the sural nerve permit more proximal reconstruction of the infraorbital and mental nerves, which allows reinnervation of their entire cutaneous distribution. All patients demonstrated improved sensation in the reconstructed dermatomes, and no patients reported donor-site abnormalities. Cross-face nerve grafts result in minimal donor-site morbidity and are promising as a surgical strategy to address sensory deficits of the face. Therapeutic, V.

Eyeblink Synchrony in Multimodal Human-Android Interaction.

PubMed

Tatsukawa, Kyohei; Nakano, Tamami; Ishiguro, Hiroshi; Yoshikawa, Yuichiro

2016-12-23

As the result of recent progress in technology of communication robot, robots are becoming an important social partner for humans. Behavioral synchrony is understood as an important factor in establishing good human-robot relationships. In this study, we hypothesized that biasing a human's attitude toward a robot changes the degree of synchrony between human and robot. We first examined whether eyeblinks were synchronized between a human and an android in face-to-face interaction and found that human listeners' eyeblinks were entrained to android speakers' eyeblinks. This eyeblink synchrony disappeared when the android speaker spoke while looking away from the human listeners but was enhanced when the human participants listened to the speaking android while touching the android's hand. These results suggest that eyeblink synchrony reflects a qualitative state in human-robot interactions.

Student teams practice for regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Student teams (right and left) behind protective walls maneuver their robots on the playing field during practice rounds of the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The robots have to retrieve pillow-like disks from the floor, as well as climb onto the platform (foreground) and raise the cache of pillows to a height of eight feet. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Body-mounted robotic instrument guide for image-guided cryotherapy of renal cancer

PubMed Central

Hata, Nobuhiko; Song, Sang-Eun; Olubiyi, Olutayo; Arimitsu, Yasumichi; Fujimoto, Kosuke; Kato, Takahisa; Tuncali, Kemal; Tani, Soichiro; Tokuda, Junichi

2016-01-01

Purpose: Image-guided cryotherapy of renal cancer is an emerging alternative to surgical nephrectomy, particularly for those who cannot sustain the physical burden of surgery. It is well known that the outcome of this therapy depends on the accurate placement of the cryotherapy probe. Therefore, a robotic instrument guide may help physicians aim the cryotherapy probe precisely to maximize the efficacy of the treatment and avoid damage to critical surrounding structures. The objective of this paper was to propose a robotic instrument guide for orienting cryotherapy probes in image-guided cryotherapy of renal cancers. The authors propose a body-mounted robotic guide that is expected to be less susceptible to guidance errors caused by the patient’s whole body motion. Methods: Keeping the device’s minimal footprint in mind, the authors developed and validated a body-mounted, robotic instrument guide that can maintain the geometrical relationship between the device and the patient’s body, even in the presence of the patient’s frequent body motions. The guide can orient the cryotherapy probe with the skin incision point as the remote-center-of-motion. The authors’ validation studies included an evaluation of the mechanical accuracy and position repeatability of the robotic instrument guide. The authors also performed a mock MRI-guided cryotherapy procedure with a phantom to compare the advantage of robotically assisted probe replacements over a free-hand approach, by introducing organ motions to investigate their effects on the accurate placement of the cryotherapy probe. Measurements collected for performance analysis included accuracy and time taken for probe placements. Multivariate analysis was performed to assess if either or both organ motion and the robotic guide impacted these measurements. Results: The mechanical accuracy and position repeatability of the probe placement using the robotic instrument guide were 0.3 and 0.1 mm, respectively, at a depth of 80 mm. The phantom test indicated that the accuracy of probe placement was significantly better with the robotic instrument guide (4.1 mm) than without the guide (6.3 mm, p<0.001), even in the presence of body motion. When independent organ motion was artificially added, in addition to body motion, the advantage of accurate probe placement using the robotic instrument guide disappeared statistically [i.e., 6.0 mm with the robotic guide and 5.9 mm without the robotic guide (p = 0.906)]. When the robotic instrument guide was used, the total time required to complete the procedure was reduced from 19.6 to 12.7 min (p<0.001). Multivariable analysis indicated that the robotic instrument guide, not the organ motion, was the cause of statistical significance. The statistical power the authors obtained was 88% in accuracy assessment and 99% higher in duration measurement. Conclusions: The body-mounted robotic instrument guide allows positioning of the probe during image-guided cryotherapy of renal cancer and was done in fewer attempts and in less time than the free-hand approach. The accuracy of the placement of the cryotherapy probe was better using the robotic instrument guide than without the guide when no organ motion was present. The accuracy between the robotic and free-hand approach becomes comparable when organ motion was present. PMID:26843245

Survey of practicing urologists: robotic versus open radical prostatectomy.

PubMed

Lee, Eugene K; Baack, Janet; Duchene, David A

2010-04-01

The robotic assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) has become the most common operative choice for localized prostate cancer. At our institution, we have also seen a substantial increase in the proportion of RARP. Possible patient factors may include marketing, increased Internet usage by patients, and patient-to-patient communication. We surveyed urologists from the central United States to determine possible surgeon factors for the popularity of the RARP. We mailed a survey to all urologists in the South Central Section of the American Urological Association. After demographic information was obtained, participants were asked to choose an operation for themselves based on two prostate cancer scenarios; low risk and high risk. For the low risk prostate cancer scenario, 54.3% chose RARP while 32.9% chose a radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP). In the high risk scenario, 32.3% chose a RARP while 58.8% chose the RRP. The top reasons for choosing robotics included decreased blood loss, better pain control, and visualization of the apex. The most popular reasons for an open operation included improved lymph node dissection, better tactile sensation, and easier operation for the surgeon. The two most important factors for choosing a particular operation were cancer control and the urologist performing the operation. Also, urologists favored the operative choice in which he or she performed. Robotic assisted radical prostatectomy has become the favored operative approach for low risk prostate cancer. However, many urologists still feel an oncologic difference may exist between open and robotic surgery as evidenced by more urologists favoring an open approach for high risk prostate cancer.

Right-Angle Mechanized Electrical Connector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collins, Clint A.; Blackler, David T.

1996-01-01

Right-angle electrical connector embedded in mechanism accommodates some initial misalignment and aligns itself. Connection and disconnection effected with relatively small forces and torques and simple movements. Actuated by one gloved hand or by robotic manipulator. Useful in underwater, nuclear, hot, cold, or toxic environments in which connections made or broken by heavily clothed technicians or by robots.

Developing Conceptual Understanding of Mechanical Advantage through the Use of Lego Robotic Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chambers, Joan M.; Carbonaro, Mike; Murray, Hana

2008-01-01

Science educators advocate hands on experiences and the use of manipulatives as important for children's conceptual development. Consequently, the utilisation of "Lego" robotic technologies in teaching and learning has become more prevalent in school science classrooms. It is important to investigate their value as educational tools, particularly…

Hands-On Experiences of Undergraduate Students in Automatics and Robotics Using a Virtual and Remote Laboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jara, Carlos A.; Candelas, Francisco A.; Puente, Santiago T.; Torres, Fernando

2011-01-01

Automatics and Robotics subjects are always greatly improved when classroom teaching is supported by adequate laboratory courses and experiments following the "learning by doing" paradigm, which provides students a deep understanding of theoretical lessons. However, expensive equipment and limited time prevent teachers having sufficient…

Robotics-Control Technology. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

This document contains the materials required for presenting an 8-day competency-based technology learning activity (TLA) designed to introduce students in grades 6-10 to advances and career opportunities in the field of robotics-control technology. The guide uses hands-on exploratory experiences into which activities to help students develop…

Gestonurse: a robotic surgical nurse for handling surgical instruments in the operating room.

PubMed

Jacob, Mithun; Li, Yu-Ting; Akingba, George; Wachs, Juan P

2012-03-01

While surgeon-scrub nurse collaboration provides a fast, straightforward and inexpensive method of delivering surgical instruments to the surgeon, it often results in "mistakes" (e.g. missing information, ambiguity of instructions and delays). It has been shown that these errors can have a negative impact on the outcome of the surgery. These errors could potentially be reduced or eliminated by introducing robotics into the operating room. Gesture control is a natural and fundamentally sound alternative that allows interaction without disturbing the normal flow of surgery. This paper describes the development of a robotic scrub nurse Gestonurse to support surgeons by passing surgical instruments during surgery as required. The robot responds to recognized hand signals detected through sophisticated computer vision and pattern recognition techniques. Experimental results show that 95% of the gestures were recognized correctly. The gesture recognition algorithm presented is robust to changes in scale and rotation of the hand gestures. The system was compared to human task performance and was found to be only 0.83 s slower on average.

Towards the automatic scanning of indoors with robots.

PubMed

Adán, Antonio; Quintana, Blanca; Vázquez, Andres S; Olivares, Alberto; Parra, Eduardo; Prieto, Samuel

2015-05-19

This paper is framed in both 3D digitization and 3D data intelligent processing research fields. Our objective is focused on developing a set of techniques for the automatic creation of simple three-dimensional indoor models with mobile robots. The document presents the principal steps of the process, the experimental setup and the results achieved. We distinguish between the stages concerning intelligent data acquisition and 3D data processing. This paper is focused on the first stage. We show how the mobile robot, which carries a 3D scanner, is able to, on the one hand, make decisions about the next best scanner position and, on the other hand, navigate autonomously in the scene with the help of the data collected from earlier scans. After this stage, millions of 3D data are converted into a simplified 3D indoor model. The robot imposes a stopping criterion when the whole point cloud covers the essential parts of the scene. This system has been tested under real conditions indoors with promising results. The future is addressed to extend the method in much more complex and larger scenarios.

Towards the Automatic Scanning of Indoors with Robots

PubMed Central

Adán, Antonio; Quintana, Blanca; Vázquez, Andres S.; Olivares, Alberto; Parra, Eduardo; Prieto, Samuel

2015-01-01

This paper is framed in both 3D digitization and 3D data intelligent processing research fields. Our objective is focused on developing a set of techniques for the automatic creation of simple three-dimensional indoor models with mobile robots. The document presents the principal steps of the process, the experimental setup and the results achieved. We distinguish between the stages concerning intelligent data acquisition and 3D data processing. This paper is focused on the first stage. We show how the mobile robot, which carries a 3D scanner, is able to, on the one hand, make decisions about the next best scanner position and, on the other hand, navigate autonomously in the scene with the help of the data collected from earlier scans. After this stage, millions of 3D data are converted into a simplified 3D indoor model. The robot imposes a stopping criterion when the whole point cloud covers the essential parts of the scene. This system has been tested under real conditions indoors with promising results. The future is addressed to extend the method in much more complex and larger scenarios. PMID:25996513

Hiding the system from the user: Moving from complex mental models to elegant metaphors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Curtis W. Nielsen; David J. Bruemmer

2007-08-01

In previous work, increased complexity of robot behaviors and the accompanying interface design often led to operator confusion and/or a fight for control between the robot and operator. We believe the reason for the conflict was that the design of the interface and interactions presented too much of the underlying robot design model to the operator. Since the design model includes the implementation of sensors, behaviors, and sophisticated algorithms, the result was that the operator’s cognitive efforts were focused on understanding the design of the robot system as opposed to focusing on the task at hand. This paper illustrates howmore » this very problem emerged at the INL and how the implementation of new metaphors for interaction has allowed us to hide the design model from the user and allow the user to focus more on the task at hand. Supporting the user’s focus on the task rather than on the design model allows increased use of the system and significant performance improvement in a search task with novice users.« less

Design of a robotic device for assessment and rehabilitation of hand sensory function.

PubMed

Lambercy, Olivier; Robles, Alejandro Juárez; Kim, Yeongmi; Gassert, Roger

2011-01-01

This paper presents the design and implementation of the Robotic Sensory Trainer, a robotic interface for assessment and therapy of hand sensory function. The device can provide three types of well controlled stimuli: (i) angular displacement at the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint using a remote-center-of-motion double-parallelogram structure, (ii) vibration stimuli at the fingertip, proximal phalange and palm, and (iii) pressure at the fingertip, while recording position, interaction force and feedback from the user over a touch screen. These stimuli offer a novel platform to investigate sensory perception in healthy subjects and patients with sensory impairments, with the potential to assess deficits and actively train detection of specific sensory cues in a standardized manner. A preliminary study with eight healthy subjects demonstrates the feasibility of using the Robotic Sensory Trainer to assess the sensory perception threshold in MCP angular position. An average just noticeable difference (JND) in the MCP joint angle of 2.46° (14.47%) was found, which is in agreement with previous perception studies. © 2011 IEEE

Robot-supported upper limb training in a virtual learning environment : a pilot randomized controlled trial in persons with MS.

PubMed

Feys, Peter; Coninx, Karin; Kerkhofs, Lore; De Weyer, Tom; Truyens, Veronik; Maris, Anneleen; Lamers, Ilse

2015-07-23

Despite the functional impact of upper limb dysfunction in multiple sclerosis (MS), effects of intensive exercise programs and specifically robot-supported training have been rarely investigated in persons with advanced MS. To investigate the effects of additional robot-supported upper limb training in persons with MS compared to conventional treatment only. Seventeen persons with MS (pwMS) (median Expanded Disability Status Scale of 8, range 3.5-8.5) were included in a pilot RCT comparing the effects of additional robot-supported training to conventional treatment only. Additional training consisted of 3 weekly sessions of 30 min interacting with the HapticMaster robot within an individualised virtual learning environment (I-TRAVLE). Clinical measures at body function (Hand grip strength, Motricity Index, Fugl-Meyer) and activity (Action Research Arm test, Motor Activity Log) level were administered before and after an intervention period of 8 weeks. The intervention group were also evaluated on robot-mediated movement tasks in three dimensions, providing active range of motion, movement duration and speed and hand-path ratio as indication of movement efficiency in the spatial domain. Non-parametric statistics were applied. PwMS commented favourably on the robot-supported virtual learning environment and reported functional training effects in daily life. Movement tasks in three dimensions, measured with the robot, were performed in less time and for the transporting and reaching movement tasks more efficiently. There were however no significant changes for any clinical measure in neither intervention nor control group although observational analyses of the included cases indicated large improvements on the Fugl-Meyer in persons with more marked upper limb dysfunction. Robot-supported training lead to more efficient movement execution which was however, on group level, not reflected by significant changes on standard clinical tests. Persons with more marked upper limb dysfunction may benefit most from additional robot-supported training, but larger studies are needed. This trial is registered within the registry Clinical Trials GOV ( NCT02257606 ).

The debate over robotics in benign gynecology.

PubMed

Rardin, Charles R

2014-05-01

The debate over the role of the da Vinci surgical robotic platform in benign gynecology is raging with increasing fervor and, as product liability issues arise, greater financial stakes. Although the best currently available science suggests that, in the hands of experts, robotics offers little in surgical advantage over laparoscopy, at increased expense, the observed decrease in laparotomy for hysterectomy is almost certainly, at least in part, attributable to the availability of the robot. In this author's opinion, the issue is not whether the robot has any role but rather to define the role in an institutional environment that also supports the safe use of vaginal and laparoscopic approaches in an integrated minimally invasive surgery program. Programs engaging robotic surgery should have a clear and self-determined regulatory process and should resist pressures in place that may preferentially support robotics over other forms of minimally invasive surgery. Copyright © 2014 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

The JAU-JPL anthropomorphic telerobot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jau, Bruno M.

1989-01-01

Work in progress on the new anthropomorphic telerobot is described. The initial robot configuration consists of a seven DOF arm and a sixteen DOF hand, having three fingers and a thumb. The robot has active compliance, enabling subsequent dual arm manipulations. To control the rather complex configuration of this robot, an exoskeleton master arm harness and a glove controller were built. The controller will be used for teleoperational tasks and as a research tool to efficiently teach the computer controller advanced manipulation techniques.

Eye-in-Hand Manipulation for Remote Handling: Experimental Setup

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Longchuan; Suominen, Olli; Aref, Mohammad M.; Mattila, Jouni; Ruiz, Emilio; Esque, Salvador

2018-03-01

A prototype for eye-in-hand manipulation in the context of remote handling in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)1 is presented in this paper. The setup consists of an industrial robot manipulator with a modified open control architecture and equipped with a pair of stereoscopic cameras, a force/torque sensor, and pneumatic tools. It is controlled through a haptic device in a mock-up environment. The industrial robot controller has been replaced by a single industrial PC running Xenomai that has a real-time connection to both the robot controller and another Linux PC running as the controller for the haptic device. The new remote handling control environment enables further development of advanced control schemes for autonomous and semi-autonomous manipulation tasks. This setup benefits from a stereovision system for accurate tracking of the target objects with irregular shapes. The overall environmental setup successfully demonstrates the required robustness and precision that remote handling tasks need.

KSC-99pp0289

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-03-06

At the award ceremony for the 1999 FIRST Southeastern Regional robotic competition held at KSC, the Space Coast FIRST Team walks past the greeting line. In the middle, shaking hands with the team, are KSC's Director of Engineering Development Sterling Walker (left) and Center Director Roy Bridges (right). The Space Coast Team included Rockledge, Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island High Schools. FIRST is a nonprofit organization, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, that sponsors the event pitting gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers, pairing high school students with engineer mentors and corporations. The regional event comprised 27 teams. Along with the championship award, which went to high school teams from Miami and San German, Puerto Rico, 15 other awards were presented

Sensitive and Flexible Polymeric Strain Sensor for Accurate Human Motion Monitoring

PubMed Central

Khan, Hassan; Kottapalli, Ajay; Asadnia, Mohsen

2018-01-01

Flexible electronic devices offer the capability to integrate and adapt with human body. These devices are mountable on surfaces with various shapes, which allow us to attach them to clothes or directly onto the body. This paper suggests a facile fabrication strategy via electrospinning to develop a stretchable, and sensitive poly (vinylidene fluoride) nanofibrous strain sensor for human motion monitoring. A complete characterization on the single PVDF nano fiber has been performed. The charge generated by PVDF electrospun strain sensor changes was employed as a parameter to control the finger motion of the robotic arm. As a proof of concept, we developed a smart glove with five sensors integrated into it to detect the fingers motion and transfer it to a robotic hand. Our results shows that the proposed strain sensors are able to detect tiny motion of fingers and successfully run the robotic hand. PMID:29389851

Prototyping a Hybrid Cooperative and Tele-robotic Surgical System for Retinal Microsurgery.

PubMed

Balicki, Marcin; Xia, Tian; Jung, Min Yang; Deguet, Anton; Vagvolgyi, Balazs; Kazanzides, Peter; Taylor, Russell

2011-06-01

This paper presents the design of a tele-robotic microsurgical platform designed for development of cooperative and tele-operative control schemes, sensor based smart instruments, user interfaces and new surgical techniques with eye surgery as the driving application. The system is built using the distributed component-based cisst libraries and the Surgical Assistant Workstation framework. It includes a cooperatively controlled EyeRobot2, a da Vinci Master manipulator, and a remote stereo visualization system. We use constrained optimization based virtual fixture control to provide Virtual Remote-Center-of-Motion (vRCM) and haptic feedback. Such system can be used in a hybrid setup, combining local cooperative control with remote tele-operation, where an experienced surgeon can provide hand-over-hand tutoring to a novice user. In another scheme, the system can provide haptic feedback based on virtual fixtures constructed from real-time force and proximity sensor information.

Prototyping a Hybrid Cooperative and Tele-robotic Surgical System for Retinal Microsurgery

PubMed Central

Balicki, Marcin; Xia, Tian; Jung, Min Yang; Deguet, Anton; Vagvolgyi, Balazs; Kazanzides, Peter; Taylor, Russell

2013-01-01

This paper presents the design of a tele-robotic microsurgical platform designed for development of cooperative and tele-operative control schemes, sensor based smart instruments, user interfaces and new surgical techniques with eye surgery as the driving application. The system is built using the distributed component-based cisst libraries and the Surgical Assistant Workstation framework. It includes a cooperatively controlled EyeRobot2, a da Vinci Master manipulator, and a remote stereo visualization system. We use constrained optimization based virtual fixture control to provide Virtual Remote-Center-of-Motion (vRCM) and haptic feedback. Such system can be used in a hybrid setup, combining local cooperative control with remote tele-operation, where an experienced surgeon can provide hand-over-hand tutoring to a novice user. In another scheme, the system can provide haptic feedback based on virtual fixtures constructed from real-time force and proximity sensor information. PMID:24398557

A robotics platform for automated batch fabrication of high density, microfluidics-based DNA microarrays, with applications to single cell, multiplex assays of secreted proteins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Habib; Sutherland, Alex; Shin, Young Shik; Hwang, Kiwook; Qin, Lidong; Krom, Russell-John; Heath, James R.

2011-09-01

Microfluidics flow-patterning has been utilized for the construction of chip-scale miniaturized DNA and protein barcode arrays. Such arrays have been used for specific clinical and fundamental investigations in which many proteins are assayed from single cells or other small sample sizes. However, flow-patterned arrays are hand-prepared, and so are impractical for broad applications. We describe an integrated robotics/microfluidics platform for the automated preparation of such arrays, and we apply it to the batch fabrication of up to eighteen chips of flow-patterned DNA barcodes. The resulting substrates are comparable in quality with hand-made arrays and exhibit excellent substrate-to-substrate consistency. We demonstrate the utility and reproducibility of robotics-patterned barcodes by utilizing two flow-patterned chips for highly parallel assays of a panel of secreted proteins from single macrophage cells.

A robotics platform for automated batch fabrication of high density, microfluidics-based DNA microarrays, with applications to single cell, multiplex assays of secreted proteins

PubMed Central

Ahmad, Habib; Sutherland, Alex; Shin, Young Shik; Hwang, Kiwook; Qin, Lidong; Krom, Russell-John; Heath, James R.

2011-01-01

Microfluidics flow-patterning has been utilized for the construction of chip-scale miniaturized DNA and protein barcode arrays. Such arrays have been used for specific clinical and fundamental investigations in which many proteins are assayed from single cells or other small sample sizes. However, flow-patterned arrays are hand-prepared, and so are impractical for broad applications. We describe an integrated robotics/microfluidics platform for the automated preparation of such arrays, and we apply it to the batch fabrication of up to eighteen chips of flow-patterned DNA barcodes. The resulting substrates are comparable in quality with hand-made arrays and exhibit excellent substrate-to-substrate consistency. We demonstrate the utility and reproducibility of robotics-patterned barcodes by utilizing two flow-patterned chips for highly parallel assays of a panel of secreted proteins from single macrophage cells. PMID:21974603

A robotics platform for automated batch fabrication of high density, microfluidics-based DNA microarrays, with applications to single cell, multiplex assays of secreted proteins.

PubMed

Ahmad, Habib; Sutherland, Alex; Shin, Young Shik; Hwang, Kiwook; Qin, Lidong; Krom, Russell-John; Heath, James R

2011-09-01

Microfluidics flow-patterning has been utilized for the construction of chip-scale miniaturized DNA and protein barcode arrays. Such arrays have been used for specific clinical and fundamental investigations in which many proteins are assayed from single cells or other small sample sizes. However, flow-patterned arrays are hand-prepared, and so are impractical for broad applications. We describe an integrated robotics/microfluidics platform for the automated preparation of such arrays, and we apply it to the batch fabrication of up to eighteen chips of flow-patterned DNA barcodes. The resulting substrates are comparable in quality with hand-made arrays and exhibit excellent substrate-to-substrate consistency. We demonstrate the utility and reproducibility of robotics-patterned barcodes by utilizing two flow-patterned chips for highly parallel assays of a panel of secreted proteins from single macrophage cells. © 2011 American Institute of Physics

The no-touch rubber hand paradigm and mirror-touch sensation: Support for the self-other theory of mirror-touch synesthesia.

PubMed

White, Rebekah C; Davies, Anne M Aimola

2015-01-01

We thoroughly enjoyed Ward and Banissy's Discussion Paper on mirror-touch synesthesia. The authors contrast two theories for explaining this phenomenon-the Threshold Theory and their Self-Other Theory. Ward and Banissy note that the Self-Other Theory garners support from studies that have tested individuals with mirror-touch synesthesia using the rubber hand paradigm. In this Commentary, we provide further support for the Self-Other Theory by drawing on findings from control participants without mirror-touch synesthesia tested with two different no-touch rubber hand paradigms-one paradigm makes it easier while the other makes it more difficult to make the self-other distinction.

Robotic/virtual reality intervention program individualized to meet the specific sensorimotor impairments of an individual patient: a case study.

PubMed

Fluet, Gerard G; Merians, Alma S; Qiu, Qinyin; Saleh, Soha; Ruano, Viviana; Delmonico, Andrea R; Adamovich, Sergei V

2014-09-01

A majority of studies examining repetitive task practice facilitated by robots for the treatment of upper extremity paresis utilize standardized protocols applied to large groups. This study will describe a virtually simulated, robot-based intervention customized to match the goals and clinical presentation of a gentleman with upper extremity hemiparesis secondary to stroke. MP, the subject of this case, is an 85-year-old man with left hemiparesis secondary to an intracerebral hemorrhage 5 years prior to examination. Outcomes were measured before and after a 1-month period of home therapy and after a 1-month virtually simulated, robotic intervention. The intervention was designed to address specific impairments identified during his PT examination. When necessary, activities were modified based on MP's response to his first week of treatment. MP's home training program produced a 3-s decline in Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) time and a 5-s improvement in Jebsen Test of Hand Function (JTHF) time. He demonstrated an additional 35-s improvement in JTHF and an additional 44-s improvement in WMFT subsequent to the robotic training intervention. A 24-h activity measurement and the Hand and Activities of Daily Living scales of the Stroke Impact Scale improved following the robotic intervention. Based on his responses to training we feel that we have established that a customized program of virtually simulated, robotically facilitated rehabilitation was feasible and resulted in larger improvements than an intensive home training program in several measurements of upper extremity function in our patient with chronic hemiparesis.

KSC-99pp0271

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-03-05

Referees check the robots on the floor of the playing field after a qualifying match of the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The robots have to retrieve pillow-like disks from the floor, as well as climb onto the platform (with flags) and raise the cache of pillows to a height of eight feet. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers

Non-normal dynamics and positive feedback between motion and sensation boosts run-and-tumble navigation.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, Junjiajia; Zucker, Steven W.; Emonet, Thierry

The capability to navigate environmental gradients is of critical importance for survival. Countless organisms (microbes, human cells, worms, larvae, and insects) as well as human-made robots use a run-and-tumble strategy to do so. The classical drawback of this approach is that runs in the wrong direction are wasteful. We show analytically that organisms can overcome this fundamental limitation by exploiting the non-normal dynamics and intrinsic nonlinearities inherent to the positive feedback between motion and sensation. Most importantly, this nonlinear amplification is asymmetric, elongating runs in favorable directions and abbreviating others. The result is a ``ratchet-like'' gradient climbing behavior with drift speeds that can approach half the maximum run speed of the organism. By extending the theoretical study of run-and-tumble navigation into the non-mean-field, nonlinear, and non-normal domains, our results provide a new level of understanding about this basic strategy. We thank Yale HPC, NIGMS 1R01GM106189, and the Allen Distinguished Investigator Program through The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group for support.

Performance evaluation of haptic hand-controllers in a robot-assisted surgical system.

PubMed

Zareinia, Kourosh; Maddahi, Yaser; Ng, Canaan; Sepehri, Nariman; Sutherland, Garnette R

2015-12-01

This paper presents the experimental evaluation of three commercially available haptic hand-controllers to evaluate which was more suitable to the participants. Two surgeons and seven engineers performed two peg-in-hole tasks with different levels of difficulty. Each operator guided the end-effector of a Kuka manipulator that held surgical forceps and was equipped with a surgical microscope. Sigma 7, HD(2) and PHANToM Premium 3.0 hand-controllers were compared. Ten measures were adopted to evaluate operators' performances with respect to effort, speed and accuracy in completing a task, operator improvement during the tests, and the force applied by each haptic device. The best performance was observed with the Premium 3.0; the hand-piece was able to be held in a similar way to that used by surgeons to hold conventional tools. Hand-controllers with a linkage structure similar to the human upper extremity take advantage of the inherent human brain connectome, resulting in improved surgeon performance during robotic-assisted surgery. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Development and pilot testing of HEXORR: Hand EXOskeleton Rehabilitation Robot

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Following acute therapeutic interventions, the majority of stroke survivors are left with a poorly functioning hemiparetic hand. Rehabilitation robotics has shown promise in providing patients with intensive therapy leading to functional gains. Because of the hand's crucial role in performing activities of daily living, attention to hand therapy has recently increased. Methods This paper introduces a newly developed Hand Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot (HEXORR). This device has been designed to provide full range of motion (ROM) for all of the hand's digits. The thumb actuator allows for variable thumb plane of motion to incorporate different degrees of extension/flexion and abduction/adduction. Compensation algorithms have been developed to improve the exoskeleton's backdrivability by counteracting gravity, stiction and kinetic friction. We have also designed a force assistance mode that provides extension assistance based on each individual's needs. A pilot study was conducted on 9 unimpaired and 5 chronic stroke subjects to investigate the device's ability to allow physiologically accurate hand movements throughout the full ROM. The study also tested the efficacy of the force assistance mode with the goal of increasing stroke subjects' active ROM while still requiring active extension torque on the part of the subject. Results For 12 of the hand digits'15 joints in neurologically normal subjects, there were no significant ROM differences (P > 0.05) between active movements performed inside and outside of HEXORR. Interjoint coordination was examined in the 1st and 3rd digits, and no differences were found between inside and outside of the device (P > 0.05). Stroke subjects were capable of performing free hand movements inside of the exoskeleton and the force assistance mode was successful in increasing active ROM by 43 ± 5% (P < 0.001) and 24 ± 6% (P = 0.041) for the fingers and thumb, respectively. Conclusions Our pilot study shows that this device is capable of moving the hand's digits through nearly the entire ROM with physiologically accurate trajectories. Stroke subjects received the device intervention well and device impedance was minimized so that subjects could freely extend and flex their digits inside of HEXORR. Our active force-assisted condition was successful in increasing the subjects' ROM while promoting active participation. PMID:20667083

Generating human-like movements on an anthropomorphic robot using an interior point method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costa e Silva, E.; Araújo, J. P.; Machado, D.; Costa, M. F.; Erlhagen, W.; Bicho, E.

2013-10-01

In previous work we have presented a model for generating human-like arm and hand movements on an anthropomorphic robot involved in human-robot collaboration tasks. This model was inspired by the Posture-Based Motion-Planning Model of human movements. Numerical results and simulations for reach-to-grasp movements with two different grip types have been presented previously. In this paper we extend our model in order to address the generation of more complex movement sequences which are challenged by scenarios cluttered with obstacles. The numerical results were obtained using the IPOPT solver, which was integrated in our MATLAB simulator of an anthropomorphic robot.

Automation and Robotics for Space-Based Systems, 1991

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Robert L., II (Editor)

1992-01-01

The purpose of this in-house workshop was to assess the state-of-the-art of automation and robotics for space operations from an LaRC perspective and to identify areas of opportunity for future research. Over half of the presentations came from the Automation Technology Branch, covering telerobotic control, extravehicular activity (EVA) and intra-vehicular activity (IVA) robotics, hand controllers for teleoperation, sensors, neural networks, and automated structural assembly, all applied to space missions. Other talks covered the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) active damping augmentation, space crane work, modeling, simulation, and control of large, flexible space manipulators, and virtual passive controller designs for space robots.

Meal assistance robot with ultrasonic motor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kodani, Yasuhiro; Tanaka, Kanya; Wakasa, Yuji; Akashi, Takuya; Oka, Masato

2007-12-01

In this paper, we have constructed a robot that help people with disabilities of upper extremities and advanced stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients to eat with their residual abilities. Especially, many of people suffering from advanced stage ALS of the use a pacemaker. And they need to avoid electromagnetic waves. Therefore we adopt ultra sonic motor that does not generate electromagnetic waves as driving sources. Additionally we approach the problem of the conventional meal assistance robot. Moreover, we introduce the interface with eye movement so that extremities can also use our system. User operates our robot not with hands or foot but with eye movement.

The efficacy of using human myoelectric signals to control the limbs of robots in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, Jane E.; Phillips, Sally J.

1988-01-01

This project was designed to investigate the usefulness of the myoelectric signal as a control in robotics applications. More specifically, the neural patterns associated with human arm and hand actions were studied to determine the efficacy of using these myoelectric signals to control the manipulator arm of a robot. The advantage of this approach to robotic control was the use of well-defined and well-practiced neural patterns already available to the system, as opposed to requiring the human operator to learn new tasks and establish new neural patterns in learning to control a joystick or mechanical coupling device.

Eyeblink Synchrony in Multimodal Human-Android Interaction

PubMed Central

Tatsukawa, Kyohei; Nakano, Tamami; Ishiguro, Hiroshi; Yoshikawa, Yuichiro

2016-01-01

As the result of recent progress in technology of communication robot, robots are becoming an important social partner for humans. Behavioral synchrony is understood as an important factor in establishing good human-robot relationships. In this study, we hypothesized that biasing a human’s attitude toward a robot changes the degree of synchrony between human and robot. We first examined whether eyeblinks were synchronized between a human and an android in face-to-face interaction and found that human listeners’ eyeblinks were entrained to android speakers’ eyeblinks. This eyeblink synchrony disappeared when the android speaker spoke while looking away from the human listeners but was enhanced when the human participants listened to the speaking android while touching the android’s hand. These results suggest that eyeblink synchrony reflects a qualitative state in human-robot interactions. PMID:28009014

Vision-Based Pose Estimation for Robot-Mediated Hand Telerehabilitation

PubMed Central

Airò Farulla, Giuseppe; Pianu, Daniele; Cempini, Marco; Cortese, Mario; Russo, Ludovico O.; Indaco, Marco; Nerino, Roberto; Chimienti, Antonio; Oddo, Calogero M.; Vitiello, Nicola

2016-01-01

Vision-based Pose Estimation (VPE) represents a non-invasive solution to allow a smooth and natural interaction between a human user and a robotic system, without requiring complex calibration procedures. Moreover, VPE interfaces are gaining momentum as they are highly intuitive, such that they can be used from untrained personnel (e.g., a generic caregiver) even in delicate tasks as rehabilitation exercises. In this paper, we present a novel master–slave setup for hand telerehabilitation with an intuitive and simple interface for remote control of a wearable hand exoskeleton, named HX. While performing rehabilitative exercises, the master unit evaluates the 3D position of a human operator’s hand joints in real-time using only a RGB-D camera, and commands remotely the slave exoskeleton. Within the slave unit, the exoskeleton replicates hand movements and an external grip sensor records interaction forces, that are fed back to the operator-therapist, allowing a direct real-time assessment of the rehabilitative task. Experimental data collected with an operator and six volunteers are provided to show the feasibility of the proposed system and its performances. The results demonstrate that, leveraging on our system, the operator was able to directly control volunteers’ hands movements. PMID:26861333

Vision-Based Pose Estimation for Robot-Mediated Hand Telerehabilitation.

PubMed

Airò Farulla, Giuseppe; Pianu, Daniele; Cempini, Marco; Cortese, Mario; Russo, Ludovico O; Indaco, Marco; Nerino, Roberto; Chimienti, Antonio; Oddo, Calogero M; Vitiello, Nicola

2016-02-05

Vision-based Pose Estimation (VPE) represents a non-invasive solution to allow a smooth and natural interaction between a human user and a robotic system, without requiring complex calibration procedures. Moreover, VPE interfaces are gaining momentum as they are highly intuitive, such that they can be used from untrained personnel (e.g., a generic caregiver) even in delicate tasks as rehabilitation exercises. In this paper, we present a novel master-slave setup for hand telerehabilitation with an intuitive and simple interface for remote control of a wearable hand exoskeleton, named HX. While performing rehabilitative exercises, the master unit evaluates the 3D position of a human operator's hand joints in real-time using only a RGB-D camera, and commands remotely the slave exoskeleton. Within the slave unit, the exoskeleton replicates hand movements and an external grip sensor records interaction forces, that are fed back to the operator-therapist, allowing a direct real-time assessment of the rehabilitative task. Experimental data collected with an operator and six volunteers are provided to show the feasibility of the proposed system and its performances. The results demonstrate that, leveraging on our system, the operator was able to directly control volunteers' hands movements.

Socially assistive robotics for post-stroke rehabilitation

PubMed Central

Matarić, Maja J; Eriksson, Jon; Feil-Seifer, David J; Winstein, Carolee J

2007-01-01

Background Although there is a great deal of success in rehabilitative robotics applied to patient recovery post stroke, most of the research to date has dealt with providing physical assistance. However, new rehabilitation studies support the theory that not all therapy need be hands-on. We describe a new area, called socially assistive robotics, that focuses on non-contact patient/user assistance. We demonstrate the approach with an implemented and tested post-stroke recovery robot and discuss its potential for effectiveness. Results We describe a pilot study involving an autonomous assistive mobile robot that aids stroke patient rehabilitation by providing monitoring, encouragement, and reminders. The robot navigates autonomously, monitors the patient's arm activity, and helps the patient remember to follow a rehabilitation program. We also show preliminary results from a follow-up study that focused on the role of robot physical embodiment in a rehabilitation context. Conclusion We outline and discuss future experimental designs and factors toward the development of effective socially assistive post-stroke rehabilitation robots. PMID:17309795

The Combined Effects of Adaptive Control and Virtual Reality on Robot-Assisted Fine Hand Motion Rehabilitation in Chronic Stroke Patients: A Case Study.

PubMed

Huang, Xianwei; Naghdy, Fazel; Naghdy, Golshah; Du, Haiping; Todd, Catherine

2018-01-01

Robot-assisted therapy is regarded as an effective and reliable method for the delivery of highly repetitive training that is needed to trigger neuroplasticity following a stroke. However, the lack of fully adaptive assist-as-needed control of the robotic devices and an inadequate immersive virtual environment that can promote active participation during training are obstacles hindering the achievement of better training results with fewer training sessions required. This study thus focuses on these research gaps by combining these 2 key components into a rehabilitation system, with special attention on the rehabilitation of fine hand motion skills. The effectiveness of the proposed system is tested by conducting clinical trials on a chronic stroke patient and verified through clinical evaluation methods by measuring the key kinematic features such as active range of motion (ROM), finger strength, and velocity. By comparing the pretraining and post-training results, the study demonstrates that the proposed method can further enhance the effectiveness of fine hand motion rehabilitation training by improving finger ROM, strength, and coordination. Copyright © 2018 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dexterous Humanoid Robotic Wrist

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ihrke, Chris A. (Inventor); Bridgwater, Lyndon (Inventor); Reich, David M. (Inventor); Wampler, II, Charles W. (Inventor); Askew, Scott R. (Inventor); Diftler, Myron A. (Inventor); Nguyen, Vienny (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A humanoid robot includes a torso, a pair of arms, a neck, a head, a wrist joint assembly, and a control system. The arms and the neck movably extend from the torso. Each of the arms includes a lower arm and a hand that is rotatable relative to the lower arm. The wrist joint assembly is operatively defined between the lower arm and the hand. The wrist joint assembly includes a yaw axis and a pitch axis. The pitch axis is disposed in a spaced relationship to the yaw axis such that the axes are generally perpendicular. The pitch axis extends between the yaw axis and the lower arm. The hand is rotatable relative to the lower arm about each of the yaw axis and the pitch axis. The control system is configured for determining a yaw angle and a pitch angle of the wrist joint assembly.

Introducing Computational Thinking to Young Learners: Practicing Computational Perspectives through Embodiment in Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sung, Woonhee; Ahn, Junghyun; Black, John B.

2017-01-01

A science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-influenced classroom requires learning activities that provide hands-on experiences with technological tools to encourage problem-solving skills (Brophy et al. in "J Eng Educ" 97(3):369-387, 2008; Mataric et al. in "AAAI spring symposium on robots and robot venues: resources for AI…

Acute Appendicitis, Somatosensory Disturbances ("Head Zones"), and the Differential Diagnosis of Anterior Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome (ACNES).

PubMed

Roumen, Rudi M H; Vening, Wouter; Wouda, Rosanne; Scheltinga, Marc M

2017-06-01

Anterior cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome (ACNES) is a neuropathic abdominal wall pain syndrome typically characterized by locally altered skin sensations. On the other hand, visceral disease may also be associated with similar painful and altered skin sensations ("Head zones"). Aim of the study was to determine if patients with acute appendicitis demonstrated somatosensory disturbances in the corresponding right lower quadrant Head zone. The presence of somatosensory disturbances such as hyperalgesia, hypoesthesia, altered cool perception, or positive pinch test was determined in 100 patients before and after an appendectomy. Potential associations between altered skin sensations and various items including age, sex, history, body temperature, C-reactive protein (CRP), leukocyte count, and type of appendicopathy (normal, inflamed, necrotic, or perforated) were assessed. A total of 39 patients demonstrated at least one right lower abdominal quadrant skin somatosensory disturbance before the laparoscopic appendectomy. However, locoregional skin sensation normalized in all but 2 patients 2 weeks postoperatively. No differences were found concerning patient characteristics or type of appendicopathy between populations with or without altered lower abdominal skin sensations. A substantial portion of patients with acute appendicitis demonstrate right lower abdominal somatosensory disturbances that are similar as observed in acute ACNES. Both may be different sides of the same coin and are possibly expressions of segmental phenomena as described by Head. McBurney's point, a landmark area of maximum pain in acute appendicitis, is possibly a trigger point within a Head zone. Differentiating acute appendicitis from acute ACNES is extremely difficult, but imaging and observation may aid in the diagnostic process.

GelSight: High-Resolution Robot Tactile Sensors for Estimating Geometry and Force

PubMed Central

Yuan, Wenzhen; Dong, Siyuan; Adelson, Edward H.

2017-01-01

Tactile sensing is an important perception mode for robots, but the existing tactile technologies have multiple limitations. What kind of tactile information robots need, and how to use the information, remain open questions. We believe a soft sensor surface and high-resolution sensing of geometry should be important components of a competent tactile sensor. In this paper, we discuss the development of a vision-based optical tactile sensor, GelSight. Unlike the traditional tactile sensors which measure contact force, GelSight basically measures geometry, with very high spatial resolution. The sensor has a contact surface of soft elastomer, and it directly measures its deformation, both vertical and lateral, which corresponds to the exact object shape and the tension on the contact surface. The contact force, and slip can be inferred from the sensor’s deformation as well. Particularly, we focus on the hardware and software that support GelSight’s application on robot hands. This paper reviews the development of GelSight, with the emphasis in the sensing principle and sensor design. We introduce the design of the sensor’s optical system, the algorithm for shape, force and slip measurement, and the hardware designs and fabrication of different sensor versions. We also show the experimental evaluation on the GelSight’s performance on geometry and force measurement. With the high-resolution measurement of shape and contact force, the sensor has successfully assisted multiple robotic tasks, including material perception or recognition and in-hand localization for robot manipulation. PMID:29186053

Three-dimensional vision enhances task performance independently of the surgical method.

PubMed

Wagner, O J; Hagen, M; Kurmann, A; Horgan, S; Candinas, D; Vorburger, S A

2012-10-01

Within the next few years, the medical industry will launch increasingly affordable three-dimensional (3D) vision systems for the operating room (OR). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two-dimensional (2D) and 3D visualization on surgical skills and task performance. In this study, 34 individuals with varying laparoscopic experience (18 inexperienced individuals) performed three tasks to test spatial relationships, grasping and positioning, dexterity, precision, and hand-eye and hand-hand coordination. Each task was performed in 3D using binocular vision for open performance, the Viking 3Di Vision System for laparoscopic performance, and the DaVinci robotic system. The same tasks were repeated in 2D using an eye patch for monocular vision, conventional laparoscopy, and the DaVinci robotic system. Loss of 3D vision significantly increased the perceived difficulty of a task and the time required to perform it, independently of the approach (P < 0.0001-0.02). Simple tasks took 25 % to 30 % longer to complete and more complex tasks took 75 % longer with 2D than with 3D vision. Only the difficult task was performed faster with the robot than with laparoscopy (P = 0.005). In every case, 3D robotic performance was superior to conventional laparoscopy (2D) (P < 0.001-0.015). The more complex the task, the more 3D vision accelerates task completion compared with 2D vision. The gain in task performance is independent of the surgical method.

Illusory sense of human touch from a warm and soft artificial hand.

PubMed

Cabibihan, John-John; Joshi, Deepak; Srinivasa, Yeshwin Mysore; Chan, Mark Aaron; Muruganantham, Arrchana

2015-05-01

To touch and be touched are vital to human development, well-being, and relationships. However, to those who have lost their arms and hands due to accident or war, touching becomes a serious concern that often leads to psychosocial issues and social stigma. In this paper, we demonstrate that the touch from a warm and soft rubber hand can be perceived by another person as if the touch were coming from a human hand. We describe a three-step process toward this goal. First, we made participants select artificial skin samples according to their preferred warmth and softness characteristics. At room temperature, the preferred warmth was found to be 28.4 °C at the skin surface of a soft silicone rubber material that has a Shore durometer value of 30 at the OO scale. Second, we developed a process to create a rubber hand replica of a human hand. To compare the skin softness of a human hand and artificial hands, a robotic indenter was employed to produce a softness map by recording the displacement data when constant indentation force of 1 N was applied to 780 data points on the palmar side of the hand. Results showed that an artificial hand with skeletal structure is as soft as a human hand. Lastly, the participants' arms were touched with human and artificial hands, but they were prevented from seeing the hand that touched them. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis suggests that a warm and soft artificial hand can create an illusion that the touch is from a human hand. These findings open the possibilities for prosthetic and robotic hands that are life-like and are more socially acceptable.

Series Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (sPAMs) and Application to a Soft Continuum Robot.

PubMed

Greer, Joseph D; Morimoto, Tania K; Okamura, Allison M; Hawkes, Elliot W

2017-01-01

We describe a new series pneumatic artificial muscle (sPAM) and its application as an actuator for a soft continuum robot. The robot consists of three sPAMs arranged radially round a tubular pneumatic backbone. Analogous to tendons, the sPAMs exert a tension force on the robot's pneumatic backbone, causing bending that is approximately constant curvature. Unlike a traditional tendon driven continuum robot, the robot is entirely soft and contains no hard components, making it safer for human interaction. Models of both the sPAM and soft continuum robot kinematics are presented and experimentally verified. We found a mean position accuracy of 5.5 cm for predicting the end-effector position of a 42 cm long robot with the kinematic model. Finally, closed-loop control is demonstrated using an eye-in-hand visual servo control law which provides a simple interface for operation by a human. The soft continuum robot with closed-loop control was found to have a step-response rise time and settling time of less than two seconds.

Serendipitous Offline Learning in a Neuromorphic Robot.

PubMed

Stewart, Terrence C; Kleinhans, Ashley; Mundy, Andrew; Conradt, Jörg

2016-01-01

We demonstrate a hybrid neuromorphic learning paradigm that learns complex sensorimotor mappings based on a small set of hard-coded reflex behaviors. A mobile robot is first controlled by a basic set of reflexive hand-designed behaviors. All sensor data is provided via a spike-based silicon retina camera (eDVS), and all control is implemented via spiking neurons simulated on neuromorphic hardware (SpiNNaker). Given this control system, the robot is capable of simple obstacle avoidance and random exploration. To train the robot to perform more complex tasks, we observe the robot and find instances where the robot accidentally performs the desired action. Data recorded from the robot during these times is then used to update the neural control system, increasing the likelihood of the robot performing that task in the future, given a similar sensor state. As an example application of this general-purpose method of training, we demonstrate the robot learning to respond to novel sensory stimuli (a mirror) by turning right if it is present at an intersection, and otherwise turning left. In general, this system can learn arbitrary relations between sensory input and motor behavior.

Cutaneous Feedback of Fingertip Deformation and Vibration for Palpation in Robotic Surgery.

PubMed

Pacchierotti, Claudio; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Kuchenbecker, Katherine J

2016-02-01

Despite its expected clinical benefits, current teleoperated surgical robots do not provide the surgeon with haptic feedback largely because grounded forces can destabilize the system's closed-loop controller. This paper presents an alternative approach that enables the surgeon to feel fingertip contact deformations and vibrations while guaranteeing the teleoperator's stability. We implemented our cutaneous feedback solution on an Intuitive Surgical da Vinci Standard robot by mounting a SynTouch BioTac tactile sensor to the distal end of a surgical instrument and a custom cutaneous display to the corresponding master controller. As the user probes the remote environment, the contact deformations, dc pressure, and ac pressure (vibrations) sensed by the BioTac are directly mapped to input commands for the cutaneous device's motors using a model-free algorithm based on look-up tables. The cutaneous display continually moves, tilts, and vibrates a flat plate at the operator's fingertip to optimally reproduce the tactile sensations experienced by the BioTac. We tested the proposed approach by having eighteen subjects use the augmented da Vinci robot to palpate a heart model with no haptic feedback, only deformation feedback, and deformation plus vibration feedback. Fingertip deformation feedback significantly improved palpation performance by reducing the task completion time, the pressure exerted on the heart model, and the subject's absolute error in detecting the orientation of the embedded plastic stick. Vibration feedback significantly improved palpation performance only for the seven subjects who dragged the BioTac across the model, rather than pressing straight into it.

Removal of proprioception by BCI raises a stronger body ownership illusion in control of a humanlike robot

PubMed Central

Alimardani, Maryam; Nishio, Shuichi; Ishiguro, Hiroshi

2016-01-01

Body ownership illusions provide evidence that our sense of self is not coherent and can be extended to non-body objects. Studying about these illusions gives us practical tools to understand the brain mechanisms that underlie body recognition and the experience of self. We previously introduced an illusion of body ownership transfer (BOT) for operators of a very humanlike robot. This sensation of owning the robot’s body was confirmed when operators controlled the robot either by performing the desired motion with their body (motion-control) or by employing a brain-computer interface (BCI) that translated motor imagery commands to robot movement (BCI-control). The interesting observation during BCI-control was that the illusion could be induced even with a noticeable delay in the BCI system. Temporal discrepancy has always shown critical weakening effects on body ownership illusions. However the delay-robustness of BOT during BCI-control raised a question about the interaction between the proprioceptive inputs and delayed visual feedback in agency-driven illusions. In this work, we compared the intensity of BOT illusion for operators in two conditions; motion-control and BCI-control. Our results revealed a significantly stronger BOT illusion for the case of BCI-control. This finding highlights BCI’s potential in inducing stronger agency-driven illusions by building a direct communication between the brain and controlled body, and therefore removing awareness from the subject’s own body. PMID:27654174

A two-class self-paced BCI to control a robot in four directions.

PubMed

Ron-Angevin, Ricardo; Velasco-Alvarez, Francisco; Sancha-Ros, Salvador; da Silva-Sauer, Leandro

2011-01-01

In this work, an electroencephalographic analysis-based, self-paced (asynchronous) brain-computer interface (BCI) is proposed to control a mobile robot using four different navigation commands: turn right, turn left, move forward and move back. In order to reduce the probability of misclassification, the BCI is to be controlled with only two mental tasks (relaxed state versus imagination of right hand movements), using an audio-cued interface. Four healthy subjects participated in the experiment. After two sessions controlling a simulated robot in a virtual environment (which allowed the user to become familiar with the interface), three subjects successfully moved the robot in a real environment. The obtained results show that the proposed interface enables control over the robot, even for subjects with low BCI performance. © 2011 IEEE

Final matches of the FIRST regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Students cheer their team during final matches at the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at the KSC Visitor Complex. Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The robots have to retrieve pillow-like disks from the floor, climb onto a platform (with flags), as well as raise the cache of pillows, maneuvered by student teams behind protective walls. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers by pairing engineers and corporations with student teams.

Admittance Control for Robot Assisted Retinal Vein Micro-Cannulation under Human-Robot Collaborative Mode.

PubMed

Zhang, He; Gonenc, Berk; Iordachita, Iulian

2017-10-01

Retinal vein occlusion is one of the most common retinovascular diseases. Retinal vein cannulation is a potentially effective treatment method for this condition that currently lies, however, at the limits of human capabilities. In this work, the aim is to use robotic systems and advanced instrumentation to alleviate these challenges, and assist the procedure via a human-robot collaborative mode based on our earlier work on the Steady-Hand Eye Robot and force-sensing instruments. An admittance control method is employed to stabilize the cannula relative to the vein and maintain it inside the lumen during the injection process. A pre-stress strategy is used to prevent the tip of microneedle from getting out of vein in in prolonged infusions, and the performance is verified through simulations.

Methods and Apparatus for Autonomous Robotic Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gorshechnikov, Anatoly (Inventor); Livitz, Gennady (Inventor); Versace, Massimiliano (Inventor); Palma, Jesse (Inventor)

2017-01-01

Sensory processing of visual, auditory, and other sensor information (e.g., visual imagery, LIDAR, RADAR) is conventionally based on "stovepiped," or isolated processing, with little interactions between modules. Biological systems, on the other hand, fuse multi-sensory information to identify nearby objects of interest more quickly, more efficiently, and with higher signal-to-noise ratios. Similarly, examples of the OpenSense technology disclosed herein use neurally inspired processing to identify and locate objects in a robot's environment. This enables the robot to navigate its environment more quickly and with lower computational and power requirements.

KSC-05PD-0411

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. During the 2005 FIRST Robotics Regional Competition held at the University of Central Florida March 10-12, Center Director Jim Kennedy (left) greets fellow NASA employees, referee Maggi Dutczak and Laurel Lichtenberger, Planning Committee chair for the competition. NASA and the University of Central Florida are co-hosts of the regional event. The competition stages short games played by remote-controlled robots, which are designed and built in six weeks by a team of high school students and a handful of engineers-mentors. The students control the robots on the playing field.

Robotics Offer Newfound Surgical Capabilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

Barrett Technology Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts, completed three Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Johnson Space Center, during which the company developed and commercialized three core technologies: a robotic arm, a hand that functions atop the arm, and a motor driver to operate the robotics. Among many industry uses, recently, an adaptation of the arm has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in a minimally invasive knee surgery procedure, where its precision control makes it ideal for inserting a very small implant.

Final matches of the FIRST regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

During final matches at the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition at the KSC Visitor Complex, referees in opposite corners and student teams watch as two robots raise their pillow disks to a height of eight feet, one of the goals of the competition. Thirty schools from around the country have converged at KSC for the event that pits gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The robots have to retrieve the pillow disks from the floor, climb onto a platform (with flags), as well as raise the cache of pillows, maneuvered by student teams behind protective walls. KSC is hosting the event being sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers by pairing engineers and corporations with student teams.

Development of autonomous grasping and navigating robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudoh, Hiroyuki; Fujimoto, Keisuke; Nakayama, Yasuichi

2015-01-01

The ability to find and grasp target items in an unknown environment is important for working robots. We developed an autonomous navigating and grasping robot. The operations are locating a requested item, moving to where the item is placed, finding the item on a shelf or table, and picking the item up from the shelf or the table. To achieve these operations, we designed the robot with three functions: an autonomous navigating function that generates a map and a route in an unknown environment, an item position recognizing function, and a grasping function. We tested this robot in an unknown environment. It achieved a series of operations: moving to a destination, recognizing the positions of items on a shelf, picking up an item, placing it on a cart with its hand, and returning to the starting location. The results of this experiment show the applicability of reducing the workforce with robots.

Adaptive and Resilient Soft Tensegrity Robots.

PubMed

Rieffel, John; Mouret, Jean-Baptiste

2018-04-17

Living organisms intertwine soft (e.g., muscle) and hard (e.g., bones) materials, giving them an intrinsic flexibility and resiliency often lacking in conventional rigid robots. The emerging field of soft robotics seeks to harness these same properties to create resilient machines. The nature of soft materials, however, presents considerable challenges to aspects of design, construction, and control-and up until now, the vast majority of gaits for soft robots have been hand-designed through empirical trial-and-error. This article describes an easy-to-assemble tensegrity-based soft robot capable of highly dynamic locomotive gaits and demonstrating structural and behavioral resilience in the face of physical damage. Enabling this is the use of a machine learning algorithm able to discover effective gaits with a minimal number of physical trials. These results lend further credence to soft-robotic approaches that seek to harness the interaction of complex material dynamics to generate a wealth of dynamical behaviors.

Robotic control and inspection verification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Virgil Leon

1991-01-01

Three areas of possible commercialization involving robots at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) are discussed: a six degree-of-freedom target tracking system for remote umbilical operations; an intelligent torque sensing end effector for operating hand valves in hazardous locations; and an automatic radiator inspection device, a 13 by 65 foot robotic mechanism involving completely redundant motors, drives, and controls. Aspects concerning the first two innovations can be integrated to enable robots or teleoperators to perform tasks involving orientation and panal actuation operations that can be done with existing technology rather than waiting for telerobots to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to perform 'smart' autonomous operations. The third robot involves the application of complete control hardware redundancy to enable performance of work over and near expensive Space Shuttle hardware. The consumer marketplace may wish to explore commercialization of similiar component redundancy techniques for applications when a robot would not normally be used because of reliability concerns.

Final matches of the FIRST regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Four robots vie for position on the playing field during the 1999 FIRST Southeastern Regional robotic competition held at KSC. Powered by 12-volt batteries and operated by remote control, the robotic gladiators spent two minutes each trying to grab, claw and hoist large, satin pillows onto their machines. Student teams, shown behind protective walls, play defense by taking away competitors' pillows and generally harassing opposing machines. Two of the robots have lifted their caches of pillows above the field, a movement which earns them points. Along with the volunteer referees, at the edge of the playing field, judges at right watch the action. FIRST is a nonprofit organization, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The competition comprised 27 teams, pairing high school students with engineer mentors and corporations. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Self-organization via active exploration in robotic applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ogmen, H.; Prakash, R. V.

1992-01-01

We describe a neural network based robotic system. Unlike traditional robotic systems, our approach focussed on non-stationary problems. We indicate that self-organization capability is necessary for any system to operate successfully in a non-stationary environment. We suggest that self-organization should be based on an active exploration process. We investigated neural architectures having novelty sensitivity, selective attention, reinforcement learning, habit formation, flexible criteria categorization properties and analyzed the resulting behavior (consisting of an intelligent initiation of exploration) by computer simulations. While various computer vision researchers acknowledged recently the importance of active processes (Swain and Stricker, 1991), the proposed approaches within the new framework still suffer from a lack of self-organization (Aloimonos and Bandyopadhyay, 1987; Bajcsy, 1988). A self-organizing, neural network based robot (MAVIN) has been recently proposed (Baloch and Waxman, 1991). This robot has the capability of position, size rotation invariant pattern categorization, recognition and pavlovian conditioning. Our robot does not have initially invariant processing properties. The reason for this is the emphasis we put on active exploration. We maintain the point of view that such invariant properties emerge from an internalization of exploratory sensory-motor activity. Rather than coding the equilibria of such mental capabilities, we are seeking to capture its dynamics to understand on the one hand how the emergence of such invariances is possible and on the other hand the dynamics that lead to these invariances. The second point is crucial for an adaptive robot to acquire new invariances in non-stationary environments, as demonstrated by the inverting glass experiments of Helmholtz. We will introduce Pavlovian conditioning circuits in our future work for the precise objective of achieving the generation, coordination, and internalization of sequence of actions.

Individual muscle control using an exoskeleton robot for muscle function testing.

PubMed

Ueda, Jun; Ming, Ding; Krishnamoorthy, Vijaya; Shinohara, Minoru; Ogasawara, Tsukasa

2010-08-01

Healthy individuals modulate muscle activation patterns according to their intended movement and external environment. Persons with neurological disorders (e.g., stroke and spinal cord injury), however, have problems in movement control due primarily to their inability to modulate their muscle activation pattern in an appropriate manner. A functionality test at the level of individual muscles that investigates the activity of a muscle of interest on various motor tasks may enable muscle-level force grading. To date there is no extant work that focuses on the application of exoskeleton robots to induce specific muscle activation in a systematic manner. This paper proposes a new method, named "individual muscle-force control" using a wearable robot (an exoskeleton robot, or a power-assisting device) to obtain a wider variety of muscle activity data than standard motor tasks, e.g., pushing a handle by hand. A computational algorithm systematically computes control commands to a wearable robot so that a desired muscle activation pattern for target muscle forces is induced. It also computes an adequate amount and direction of a force that a subject needs to exert against a handle by his/her hand. This individual muscle control method enables users (e.g., therapists) to efficiently conduct neuromuscular function tests on target muscles by arbitrarily inducing muscle activation patterns. This paper presents a basic concept, mathematical formulation, and solution of the individual muscle-force control and its implementation to a muscle control system with an exoskeleton-type robot for upper extremity. Simulation and experimental results in healthy individuals justify the use of an exoskeleton robot for future muscle function testing in terms of the variety of muscle activity data.

Telerobotic controller development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otaguro, W. S.; Kesler, L. O.; Land, Ken; Rhoades, Don

1987-01-01

To meet NASA's space station's needs and growth, a modular and generic approach to robotic control which provides near-term implementation with low development cost and capability for growth into more autonomous systems was developed. The method uses a vision based robotic controller and compliant hand integrated with the Remote Manipulator System arm on the Orbiter. A description of the hardware and its system integration is presented.

Workshop on Dextrous Robot Hands: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Held in Philadelphia, PA April 25-29, 1988

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-05

water in oder to drink from it you will probably reach for it from the side with the forearm midway between pronatio and supinatios (so that the palm...nornal subjects by Wing, Turton & Fraser (1986). Of interest were the elects of the availabilit visial information about reaching on grasp aperture. It

Real-time cartesian force feedback control of a teleoperated robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Perry

1989-01-01

Active cartesian force control of a teleoperated robot is investigated. An economical microcomputer based control method was tested. Limitations are discussed and methods of performance improvement suggested. To demonstrate the performance of this technique, a preliminary test was performed with success. A general purpose bilateral force reflecting hand controller is currently being constructed based on this control method.

Robot-Assisted Retinal Vein Cannulation with Force-Based Puncture Detection: Micron vs. the Steady-Hand Eye Robot*

PubMed Central

Gonenc, Berk; Tran, Nhat; Gehlbach, Peter; Taylor, Russell H.; Iordachita, Iulian

2018-01-01

Retinal vein cannulation is a demanding procedure where therapeutic agents are injected into occluded retina veins. The feasibility of this treatment is limited due to challenges in identifying the moment of venous puncture, achieving cannulation and maintaining it throughout the drug delivery period. In this study, we integrate a force-sensing microneedle with two distinct robotic systems: the handheld micromanipulator Micron, and the cooperatively controlled Steady-Hand Eye Robot (SHER). The sensed tool-to-tissue interaction forces are used to detect venous puncture and extend the robots’ standard control schemes with a new position holding mode (PHM) that assists the operator hold the needle position fixed and maintain cannulation for a longer time with less trauma on the vasculature. We evaluate the resulting systems comparatively in a dry phantom, stretched vinyl membranes. Results have shown that modulating the admittance control gain of SHER alone is not a very effective solution for preventing the undesired tool motion after puncture. However, after using puncture detection and PHM the deviation from the puncture point is significantly reduced, by 65% with Micron, and by 95% with SHER representing a potential advantage over freehand for both. PMID:28269417

From self-observation to imitation: visuomotor association on a robotic hand.

PubMed

Chaminade, Thierry; Oztop, Erhan; Cheng, Gordon; Kawato, Mitsuo

2008-04-15

Being at the crux of human cognition and behaviour, imitation has become the target of investigations ranging from experimental psychology and neurophysiology to computational sciences and robotics. It is often assumed that the imitation is innate, but it has more recently been argued, both theoretically and experimentally, that basic forms of imitation could emerge as a result of self-observation. Here, we tested this proposal on a realistic experimental platform, comprising an associative network linking a 16 degrees of freedom robotic hand and a simple visual system. We report that this minimal visuomotor association is sufficient to bootstrap basic imitation. Our results indicate that crucial features of human imitation, such as generalization to new actions, may emerge from a connectionist associative network. Therefore, we suggest that a behaviour as complex as imitation could be, at the neuronal level, founded on basic mechanisms of associative learning, a notion supported by a recent proposal on the developmental origin of mirror neurons. Our approach can be applied to the development of realistic cognitive architectures for humanoid robots as well as to shed new light on the cognitive processes at play in early human cognitive development.

[Brief introduction of acupuncture needling and teaching keypoint].

PubMed

Hou, Shu-wei; Guo, Li; Kong, Su-ping

2014-09-01

We summarized our accumulated clinical and teaching experiences and explored the regularity of acupuncture needling and teaching. It is of great importance in pressing hand during inserting needle. Stroking and pressing are two crucial parts which deserve more attention, and seldom useage of pressing hand should be abolished. Operating hand needs practice before inserting needle, while it should fully relaxed during inserting. Blending "touching", "stretch" "gathering" "erupting" and "advancing" in single moment, applying appropriate dynamic mode of inserting needle such as "join 3 forces as one" "3 points in a line" expertly and naturally. In addition, enough attention should be paid on "altering direction" and "shifting point". Inserting deftly and powerfully, no/slight sensation, deqi when inserting needle are the highest reflection as an acupuncturist.

Comparison of three different techniques for camera and motion control of a teleoperated robot.

PubMed

Doisy, Guillaume; Ronen, Adi; Edan, Yael

2017-01-01

This research aims to evaluate new methods for robot motion control and camera orientation control through the operator's head orientation in robot teleoperation tasks. Specifically, the use of head-tracking in a non-invasive way, without immersive virtual reality devices was combined and compared with classical control modes for robot movements and camera control. Three control conditions were tested: 1) a condition with classical joystick control of both the movements of the robot and the robot camera, 2) a condition where the robot movements were controlled by a joystick and the robot camera was controlled by the user head orientation, and 3) a condition where the movements of the robot were controlled by hand gestures and the robot camera was controlled by the user head orientation. Performance, workload metrics and their evolution as the participants gained experience with the system were evaluated in a series of experiments: for each participant, the metrics were recorded during four successive similar trials. Results shows that the concept of robot camera control by user head orientation has the potential of improving the intuitiveness of robot teleoperation interfaces, specifically for novice users. However, more development is needed to reach a margin of progression comparable to a classical joystick interface. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advanced methods for displays and remote control of robots.

PubMed

Eliav, Ami; Lavie, Talia; Parmet, Yisrael; Stern, Helman; Edan, Yael

2011-11-01

An in-depth evaluation of the usability and situation awareness performance of different displays and destination controls of robots are presented. In two experiments we evaluate the way information is presented to the operator and assess different means for controlling the robot. Our study compares three types of displays: a "blocks" display, a HUD (head-up display), and a radar display, and two types of controls: touch screen and hand gestures. The HUD demonstrated better performance when compared to the blocks display and was perceived to have greater usability compared to the radar display. The HUD was also found to be more useful when the operation of the robot was more difficult, i.e., when using the hand-gesture method. The experiments also pointed to the importance of using a wide viewing angle to minimize distortion and for easier coping with the difficulties of locating objects in the field of view margins. The touch screen was found to be superior in terms of both objective performance and its perceived usability. No differences were found between the displays and the controllers in terms of situation awareness. This research sheds light on the preferred display type and controlling method for operating robots from a distance, making it easier to cope with the challenges of operating such systems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Robotic surgery in gynecology.

PubMed

Magrina, J F

2007-01-01

Robotic technology is nothing more than an enhancement along the continuum of laparoscopic technological advances and represents only the beginning of numerous more forthcoming advances. It constitutes a major improvement in the efficiency, accuracy, ease, and comfort associated with the performance of laparoscopic operations. Instrument articulation, downscaling of movements, absence of tremor, 3-D image, and comfort for the surgeon, assistant and scrub nurse are all new to the practice of laparoscopy. In our hands, robotic operative times for simple and radical hysterectomy are shorter than those obtained by conventional laparoscopy. Robotic technology is preferable to conventional laparoscopic instrumentation for the surgical treatment of gynecologic malignancies and most operations for benign disease of certain complexity such as hysterectomy myomectomy, and invasive pelvic endometriosis.

Dexterity-Enhanced Telerobotic Microsurgery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charles, Steve; Das, Hari; Ohm, Timothy; Boswell, Curtis; Rodriguez, Guillermo; Steele, Robert; Istrate, Dan

1997-01-01

The work reported in this paper is the result, of a collaboration between researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Steve Charles, MD, a vitreo-retinal surgeon. The Robot Assisted MicroSurgery (RAMS) telerobotic workstation developed at JPL is a prototype of a system that will be completely under the manual control of a surgeon. The system has a slave robot that will hold surgical instruments. The slave robot motions replicate in six degrees of freedom those of tile. surgeon's hand measured using a master input device with a surgical instrument, shaped handle. The surgeon commands motions for the instrument by moving the handle in the desired trajectories. The trajectories are measured, filtered, and scaled down then used to drive the slave robot.

Expedient range enhanced 3-D robot colour vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jarvis, R. A.

1983-01-01

Computer vision has been chosen, in many cases, as offering the richest form of sensory information which can be utilized for guiding robotic manipulation. The present investigation is concerned with the problem of three-dimensional (3D) visual interpretation of colored objects in support of robotic manipulation of those objects with a minimum of semantic guidance. The scene 'interpretations' are aimed at providing basic parameters to guide robotic manipulation rather than to provide humans with a detailed description of what the scene 'means'. Attention is given to overall system configuration, hue transforms, a connectivity analysis, plan/elevation segmentations, range scanners, elevation/range segmentation, higher level structure, eye in hand research, and aspects of array and video stream processing.

An egocentric vision based assistive co-robot.

PubMed

Zhang, Jingzhe; Zhuang, Lishuo; Wang, Yang; Zhou, Yameng; Meng, Yan; Hua, Gang

2013-06-01

We present the prototype of an egocentric vision based assistive co-robot system. In this co-robot system, the user is wearing a pair of glasses with a forward looking camera, and is actively engaged in the control loop of the robot in navigational tasks. The egocentric vision glasses serve for two purposes. First, it serves as a source of visual input to request the robot to find a certain object in the environment. Second, the motion patterns computed from the egocentric video associated with a specific set of head movements are exploited to guide the robot to find the object. These are especially helpful for quadriplegic individuals who do not have needed hand functionality for interaction and control with other modalities (e.g., joystick). In our co-robot system, when the robot does not fulfill the object finding task in a pre-specified time window, it would actively solicit user controls for guidance. Then the users can use the egocentric vision based gesture interface to orient the robot towards the direction of the object. After that the robot will automatically navigate towards the object until it finds it. Our experiments validated the efficacy of the closed-loop design to engage the human in the loop.

Portable and Reconfigurable Wrist Robot Improves Hand Function for Post-Stroke Subjects.

PubMed

Khor, Kang Xiang; Chin, Patrick Jun Hua; Yeong, Che Fai; Su, Eileen Lee Ming; Narayanan, Aqilah Leela T; Abdul Rahman, Hisyam; Khan, Qamer Iqbal

2017-10-01

Rehabilitation robots have become increasingly popular for stroke rehabilitation. However, the high cost of robots hampers their implementation on a large scale. This paper implements the concept of a modular and reconfigurable robot, reducing its cost and size by adopting different therapeutic end effectors for different training movements using a single robot. The challenge is to increase the robot's portability and identify appropriate kinds of modular tools and configurations. Because literature on the effectiveness of this kind of rehabilitation robot is still scarce, this paper presents the design of a portable and reconfigurable rehabilitation robot and describes its use with a group of post-stroke patients for wrist and forearm training. Seven stroke subjects received training using a reconfigurable robot for 30 sessions, lasting 30 min per session. Post-training, statistical analysis showed significant improvement of 3.29 points (16.20%, p = 0.027) on the Fugl-Meyer assessment scale for forearm and wrist components. Significant improvement of active range of motion was detected in both pronation-supination (75.59%, p = 0.018) and wrist flexion-extension (56.12%, p = 0.018) after the training. These preliminary results demonstrate that the developed reconfigurable robot could improve subjects' wrist and forearm movement.

Direct interaction with an assistive robot for individuals with chronic stroke.

PubMed

Kmetz, Brandon; Markham, Heather; Brewer, Bambi R

2011-01-01

Many robotic systems have been developed to provide assistance to individuals with disabilities. Most of these systems require the individual to interact with the robot via a joystick or keypad, though some utilize techniques such as speech recognition or selection of objects with a laser pointer. In this paper, we describe a prototype system using a novel method of interaction with an assistive robot. A touch-sensitive skin enables the user to directly guide a robotic arm to a desired position. When the skin is released, the robot remains fixed in position. The target population for this system is individuals with hemiparesis due to chronic stroke. The system can be used as a substitute for the paretic arm and hand in bimanual tasks such as holding a jar while removing the lid. This paper describes the hardware and software of the prototype system, which includes a robotic arm, the touch-sensitive skin, a hook-style prehensor, and weight compensation and speech recognition software.

PaR-PaR Laboratory Automation Platform

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Linshiz, G; Stawski, N; Poust, S

2013-05-01

Labor-intensive multistep biological tasks, such as the construction and cloning of DNA molecules, are prime candidates for laboratory automation. Flexible and biology-friendly operation of robotic equipment is key to its successful integration in biological laboratories, and the efforts required to operate a robot must be much smaller than the alternative manual lab work. To achieve these goals, a simple high-level biology-friendly robot programming language is needed. We have developed and experimentally validated such a language: Programming a Robot (PaR-PaR). The syntax and compiler for the language are based on computer science principles and a deep understanding of biological workflows. PaR-PaRmore » allows researchers to use liquid-handling robots effectively, enabling experiments that would not have been considered previously. After minimal training, a biologist can independently write complicated protocols for a robot within an hour. Adoption of PaR-PaR as a standard cross-platform language would enable hand-written or software-generated robotic protocols to be shared across laboratories.« less

PaR-PaR laboratory automation platform.

PubMed

Linshiz, Gregory; Stawski, Nina; Poust, Sean; Bi, Changhao; Keasling, Jay D; Hillson, Nathan J

2013-05-17

Labor-intensive multistep biological tasks, such as the construction and cloning of DNA molecules, are prime candidates for laboratory automation. Flexible and biology-friendly operation of robotic equipment is key to its successful integration in biological laboratories, and the efforts required to operate a robot must be much smaller than the alternative manual lab work. To achieve these goals, a simple high-level biology-friendly robot programming language is needed. We have developed and experimentally validated such a language: Programming a Robot (PaR-PaR). The syntax and compiler for the language are based on computer science principles and a deep understanding of biological workflows. PaR-PaR allows researchers to use liquid-handling robots effectively, enabling experiments that would not have been considered previously. After minimal training, a biologist can independently write complicated protocols for a robot within an hour. Adoption of PaR-PaR as a standard cross-platform language would enable hand-written or software-generated robotic protocols to be shared across laboratories.

System-level challenges in pressure-operated soft robotics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Onal, Cagdas D.

2016-05-01

Last decade witnessed the revival of fluidic soft actuation. As pressure-operated soft robotics becomes more popular with promising recent results, system integration remains an outstanding challenge. Inspired greatly by biology, we envision future robotic systems to embrace mechanical compliance with bodies composed of soft and hard components as well as electronic and sensing sub-systems, such that robot maintenance starts to resemble surgery. In this vision, portable energy sources and driving infrastructure plays a key role to offer autonomous many-DoF soft actuation. On the other hand, while offering many advantages in safety and adaptability to interact with unstructured environments, objects, and human bodies, mechanical compliance also violates many inherent assumptions in traditional rigid-body robotics. Thus, a complete soft robotic system requires new approaches to utilize proprioception that provides rich sensory information while remaining flexible, and motion control under significant time delay. This paper discusses our proposed solutions for each of these system-level challenges in soft robotics research.

The mechanical design of a humanoid robot with flexible skin sensor for use in psychiatric therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burns, Alec; Tadesse, Yonas

2014-03-01

In this paper, a humanoid robot is presented for ultimate use in the rehabilitation of children with mental disorders, such as autism. Creating affordable and efficient humanoids could assist the therapy in psychiatric disability by offering multimodal communication between the humanoid and humans. Yet, the humanoid development needs a seamless integration of artificial muscles, sensors, controllers and structures. We have designed a human-like robot that has 15 DOF, 580 mm tall and 925 mm arm span using a rapid prototyping system. The robot has a human-like appearance and movement. Flexible sensors around the arm and hands for safe human-robot interactions, and a two-wheel mobile platform for maneuverability are incorporated in the design. The robot has facial features for illustrating human-friendly behavior. The mechanical design of the robot and the characterization of the flexible sensors are presented. Comprehensive study on the upper body design, mobile base, actuators selection, electronics, and performance evaluation are included in this paper.

A zero phase adaptive fuzzy Kalman filter for physiological tremor suppression in robotically assisted minimally invasive surgery.

PubMed

Sang, Hongqiang; Yang, Chenghao; Liu, Fen; Yun, Jintian; Jin, Guoguang; Chen, Fa

2016-12-01

Hand physiological tremor of surgeons can cause vibration at the surgical instrument tip, which may make it difficult for the surgeon to perform fine manipulations of tissue, needles, and sutures. A zero phase adaptive fuzzy Kalman filter (ZPAFKF) is proposed to suppress hand tremor and vibration of a robotic surgical system. The involuntary motion can be reduced by adding a compensating signal that has the same magnitude and frequency but opposite phase with the tremor signal. Simulations and experiments using different filters were performed. Results show that the proposed filter can avoid the loss of useful motion information and time delay, and better suppress minor and varying tremor. The ZPAFKF can provide less error, preferred accuracy, better tremor estimation, and more desirable compensation performance, to suppress hand tremor and decrease vibration at the surgical instrument tip. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Clinical effectiveness of combined virtual reality and robot assisted fine hand motion rehabilitation in subacute stroke patients.

PubMed

Huang, Xianwei; Naghdy, Fazel; Naghdy, Golshah; Du, Haiping

2017-07-01

Robot-assisted therapy is regarded as an effective and reliable method for the delivery of highly repetitive rehabilitation training in restoring motor skills after a stroke. This study focuses on the rehabilitation of fine hand motion skills due to their vital role in performing delicate activities of daily living (ADL) tasks. The proposed rehabilitation system combines an adaptive assist-as-needed (AAN) control algorithm and a Virtual Reality (VR) based rehabilitation gaming system (RGS). The developed system is described and its effectiveness is validated through clinical trials on a group of eight subacute stroke patients for a period of six weeks. The impact of the training is verified through standard clinical evaluation methods and measuring key kinematic parameters. A comparison of the pre- and post-training results indicates that the method proposed in this study can improve fine hand motion rehabilitation training effectiveness.

Development of a test protocol for evaluating EVA glove performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinman, Elaine M.

1992-01-01

Testing gloved hand performance involves work from several disciplines. Evaluations performed in the course of reenabling a disabled hand, designing a robotic end effector or master controller, or hard-suit design have all yielded relevant information, and, in most cases, produced performance test methods. Most times, these test methods have been primarily oriented toward their parent discipline. For space operations, a comparative test which would provide a way to quantify pressure glove and end effector performance would be useful in dividing tasks between humans and robots. Such a test would have to rely heavily on sensored measurement, as opposed to questionnaires, to produce relevant data. However, at some point human preference would have to be taken into account. This paper presents a methodology for evaluating gloved hand performance which attempts to respond to these issues. Glove testing of a prototype glove design using this method is described.

User interface for a tele-operated robotic hand system

DOEpatents

Crawford, Anthony L

2015-03-24

Disclosed here is a user interface for a robotic hand. The user interface anchors a user's palm in a relatively stationary position and determines various angles of interest necessary for a user's finger to achieve a specific fingertip location. The user interface additionally conducts a calibration procedure to determine the user's applicable physiological dimensions. The user interface uses the applicable physiological dimensions and the specific fingertip location, and treats the user's finger as a two link three degree-of-freedom serial linkage in order to determine the angles of interest. The user interface communicates the angles of interest to a gripping-type end effector which closely mimics the range of motion and proportions of a human hand. The user interface requires minimal contact with the operator and provides distinct advantages in terms of available dexterity, work space flexibility, and adaptability to different users.

Data Fusion Based on Optical Technology for Observation of Human Manipulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falco, Pietro; De Maria, Giuseppe; Natale, Ciro; Pirozzi, Salvatore

2012-01-01

The adoption of human observation is becoming more and more frequent within imitation learning and programming by demonstration approaches (PbD) to robot programming. For robotic systems equipped with anthropomorphic hands, the observation phase is very challenging and no ultimate solution exists. This work proposes a novel mechatronic approach to the observation of human hand motion during manipulation tasks. The strategy is based on the combined use of an optical motion capture system and a low-cost data glove equipped with novel joint angle sensors, based on optoelectronic technology. The combination of the two information sources is obtained through a sensor fusion algorithm based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) suitably modified to tackle the problem of marker occlusions, typical of optical motion capture systems. This approach requires a kinematic model of the human hand. Another key contribution of this work is a new method to calibrate this model.

Robots integrated with virtual reality simulations for customized motor training in a person with upper extremity hemiparesis: a case report

PubMed Central

Fluet, Gerard G.; Merians, Alma S.; Qiu, Qinyin; Lafond, Ian; Saleh, Soha; Ruano, Viviana; Delmonico, Andrea R.; Adamovich, Sergei V.

2014-01-01

Background and Purpose A majority of studies examining repetitive task practice facilitated by robots for the treatment of upper extremity paresis utilize standardized protocols applied to large groups. Others utilize interventions tailored to patients but don't describe the clinical decision making process utilized to develop and modify interventions. This case report will describe a robot-based intervention customized to match the goals and clinical presentation of a gentleman with upper extremity hemiparesis secondary to stroke. Methods PM is an 85 year-old man with left hemiparesis secondary to an intracerebral hemorrhage five years prior to examination. Outcomes were measured before and after a one month period of home therapy and after a one month robotic intervention. The intervention was designed to address specific impairments identified during his PT examination. When necessary, activities were modified based on the patient's response to his first week of treatment. Outcomes PM trained twelve sessions using six virtually simulated activities. Modifications to original configurations of these activities resulted in performance improvements in five of these activities. PM demonstrated a 35 second improvement in Jebsen Test of Hand Function time and a 44 second improvement in Wolf Motor Function Test time subsequent to the robotic training intervention. Reaching kinematics, 24 hour activity measurement and the Hand and Activities of Daily Living scales of the Stroke Impact Scale all improved as well. Discussion A customized program of robotically facilitated rehabilitation resulted in large short-term improvements in several measurements of upper extremity function in a patient with chronic hemiparesis. PMID:22592063

A cargo-sorting DNA robot.

PubMed

Thubagere, Anupama J; Li, Wei; Johnson, Robert F; Chen, Zibo; Doroudi, Shayan; Lee, Yae Lim; Izatt, Gregory; Wittman, Sarah; Srinivas, Niranjan; Woods, Damien; Winfree, Erik; Qian, Lulu

2017-09-15

Two critical challenges in the design and synthesis of molecular robots are modularity and algorithm simplicity. We demonstrate three modular building blocks for a DNA robot that performs cargo sorting at the molecular level. A simple algorithm encoding recognition between cargos and their destinations allows for a simple robot design: a single-stranded DNA with one leg and two foot domains for walking, and one arm and one hand domain for picking up and dropping off cargos. The robot explores a two-dimensional testing ground on the surface of DNA origami, picks up multiple cargos of two types that are initially at unordered locations, and delivers them to specified destinations until all molecules are sorted into two distinct piles. The robot is designed to perform a random walk without any energy supply. Exploiting this feature, a single robot can repeatedly sort multiple cargos. Localization on DNA origami allows for distinct cargo-sorting tasks to take place simultaneously in one test tube or for multiple robots to collectively perform the same task. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Magnetic fish-robot based on multi-motion control of a flexible magnetic actuator.

PubMed

Kim, Sung Hoon; Shin, Kyoosik; Hashi, Shuichiro; Ishiyama, Kazushi

2012-09-01

This paper presents a biologically inspired fish-robot driven by a single flexible magnetic actuator with a rotating magnetic field in a three-axis Helmholtz coil. Generally, magnetic fish-robots are powered by alternating and gradient magnetic fields, which provide a single motion such as bending the fish-robot's fins. On the other hand, a flexible magnetic actuator driven by an external rotating magnetic field can create several gaits such as the bending vibration, the twisting vibration, and their combination. Most magnetic fish-like micro-robots do not have pectoral fins on the side and are simply propelled by the tail fin. The proposed robot can swim and perform a variety of maneuvers with the addition of pectoral fins and control of the magnetic torque direction. In this paper, we find that the robot's dynamic actuation correlates with the magnetic actuator and the rotating magnetic field. The proposed robot is also equipped with new features, such as a total of six degrees of freedom, a new control method that stabilizes posture, three-dimensional swimming, a new velocity control, and new turning abilities.

Series Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (sPAMs) and Application to a Soft Continuum Robot

PubMed Central

Greer, Joseph D.; Morimoto, Tania K.; Okamura, Allison M.; Hawkes, Elliot W.

2017-01-01

We describe a new series pneumatic artificial muscle (sPAM) and its application as an actuator for a soft continuum robot. The robot consists of three sPAMs arranged radially round a tubular pneumatic backbone. Analogous to tendons, the sPAMs exert a tension force on the robot’s pneumatic backbone, causing bending that is approximately constant curvature. Unlike a traditional tendon driven continuum robot, the robot is entirely soft and contains no hard components, making it safer for human interaction. Models of both the sPAM and soft continuum robot kinematics are presented and experimentally verified. We found a mean position accuracy of 5.5 cm for predicting the end-effector position of a 42 cm long robot with the kinematic model. Finally, closed-loop control is demonstrated using an eye-in-hand visual servo control law which provides a simple interface for operation by a human. The soft continuum robot with closed-loop control was found to have a step-response rise time and settling time of less than two seconds. PMID:29379672

A cortically-inspired model for inverse kinematics computation of a humanoid finger with mechanically coupled joints.

PubMed

Gentili, Rodolphe J; Oh, Hyuk; Kregling, Alissa V; Reggia, James A

2016-05-19

The human hand's versatility allows for robust and flexible grasping. To obtain such efficiency, many robotic hands include human biomechanical features such as fingers having their two last joints mechanically coupled. Although such coupling enables human-like grasping, controlling the inverse kinematics of such mechanical systems is challenging. Here we propose a cortical model for fine motor control of a humanoid finger, having its two last joints coupled, that learns the inverse kinematics of the effector. This neural model functionally mimics the population vector coding as well as sensorimotor prediction processes of the brain's motor/premotor and parietal regions, respectively. After learning, this neural architecture could both overtly (actual execution) and covertly (mental execution or motor imagery) perform accurate, robust and flexible finger movements while reproducing the main human finger kinematic states. This work contributes to developing neuro-mimetic controllers for dexterous humanoid robotic/prosthetic upper-extremities, and has the potential to promote human-robot interactions.

Multichannel noninvasive human-machine interface via stretchable µm thick sEMG patches for robot manipulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Ying; Wang, Youhua; Liu, Runfeng; Xiao, Lin; Zhang, Qin; Huang, YongAn

2018-01-01

Epidermal electronics (e-skin) emerging in recent years offer the opportunity to noninvasively and wearably extract biosignals from human bodies. The conventional processes of e-skin based on standard microelectronic fabrication processes and a variety of transfer printing methods, nevertheless, unquestionably constrains the size of the devices, posing a serious challenge to collecting signals via skin, the largest organ in the human body. Herein we propose a multichannel noninvasive human-machine interface (HMI) using stretchable surface electromyography (sEMG) patches to realize a robot hand mimicking human gestures. Time-efficient processes are first developed to manufacture µm thick large-scale stretchable devices. With micron thickness, the stretchable µm thick sEMG patches show excellent conformability with human skin and consequently comparable electrical performance with conventional gel electrodes. Combined with the large-scale size, the multichannel noninvasive HMI via stretchable µm thick sEMG patches successfully manipulates the robot hand with eight different gestures, whose precision is as high as conventional gel electrodes array.

Port positioning and docking for single-stage totally robotic dissection for rectal cancer surgery with the Si and Xi Da Vinci Surgical System.

PubMed

Toh, James Wei Tatt; Kim, Seon-Hahn

2017-11-04

We have previously reported our technique of single-docking totally robotic dissection for rectal cancer surgery using the Da Vinci ® Si Surgical System in 2009. However, we have since optimised our port placement for the Si system and have developed a novel configuration of port placement and docking for the Da Vinci ® Xi Surgical System. We have performed over 700 cases using this technique with the Si system and have used our Xi technique since 2016 for totally robotic dissection for rectal cancer. We have kept the configuration of port placements for both the Xi and Si system as similar as possible, with the priorities to avoid arm collisions as well as to provide a workable port configuration of two left-handed instruments and one right-handed instrument. To date, there have had no major complications or arm collisions related to this technique of docking, port positioning and instrument placement.

Abstract and proportional myoelectric control for multi-fingered hand prostheses.

PubMed

Pistohl, Tobias; Cipriani, Christian; Jackson, Andrew; Nazarpour, Kianoush

2013-12-01

Powered hand prostheses with many degrees of freedom are moving from research into the market for prosthetics. In order to make use of the prostheses' full functionality, it is essential to study efficient ways of high dimensional myoelectric control. Human subjects can rapidly learn to employ electromyographic (EMG) activity of several hand and arm muscles to control the position of a cursor on a computer screen, even if the muscle-cursor map contradicts directions in which the muscles would act naturally. But can a similar control scheme be translated into real-time operation of a dexterous robotic hand? We found that despite different degrees of freedom in the effector output, the learning process for controlling a robotic hand was surprisingly similar to that for a virtual two-dimensional cursor. Control signals were derived from the EMG in two different ways, with a linear and a Bayesian filter, to test how stable user intentions could be conveyed through them. Our analysis indicates that without visual feedback, control accuracy benefits from filters that reject high EMG amplitudes. In summary, we conclude that findings on myoelectric control principles, studied in abstract, virtual tasks can be transferred to real-life prosthetic applications.

The effect of sensory-motor training on hand and upper extremity sensory and motor function in patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease.

PubMed

Taghizadeh, Ghorban; Azad, Akram; Kashefi, Sepiede; Fallah, Soheila; Daneshjoo, Fatemeh

2017-11-14

Blinded randomized controlled trial. Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) have sensory problems, but there is still no accurate understanding of the effects of sensory-motor interventions on PD. To investigate the effects of sensory-motor training (SMT) on hand and upper extremity sensory and motor function in patients with PD. Forty patients with PD were allocated to the SMT group or the control group (CG) (mean ages ± standard deviation: SMT, 61.05 ± 13.9 years; CG, 59.15 ± 11.26 years). The CG received the common rehabilitation therapies, whereas the SMT group received SMT. The SMT included discrimination of temperatures, weights, textures, shapes, and objects and was performed 5 times each week for 2 weeks. Significantly reducing the error rates in the haptic object recognition test (dominant hand [DH]: F = 15.36, P = .001, and effect size [ES] = 0.29; nondominant hand [NDH]: F = 9.33, P = .004, and ES = 0.21) and the error means in the wrist proprioception sensation test (DH: F = 9.11, P = .005, and ES = 0.19; NDH: F = 13.04, P = .001, and ES = 0.26) and increasing matched objects in the hand active sensation test (DH: F = 12.15, P = .001, and ES = 0.24; NDH: F = 5.03, P = .03, and ES = 0.12) founded in the SMT. Also, the DH (F = 6.65, P = .01, and ES = 0.15), both hands (F = 7.61, P = .009, and ES = 0.17), and assembly (F = 7.02, P = .01, and ES = 0.15) subtests of fine motor performance, as well as DH (F = 10.1, P = .003, and ES = 0.21) and NDH (F = 8.37, P = .006, and ES = 0.18) in upper extremity functional performance, were improved in the SMT. SMT improved hand and upper extremity sensory-motor function in patients with PD. The SMT group showed improved sensory and motor function. But these results were limited to levels 1 to 3 of the Hoehn and Yahr Scale. Copyright © 2017 Hanley & Belfus. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery using the iArmS operation support robot: initial experience in 43 patients.

PubMed

Ogiwara, Toshihiro; Goto, Tetsuya; Nagm, Alhusain; Hongo, Kazuhiro

2017-05-01

Objective The intelligent arm-support system, iArmS, which follows the surgeon's arm and automatically fixes it at an adequate position, was developed as an operation support robot. iArmS was designed to support the surgeon's forearm to prevent hand trembling and to alleviate fatigue during surgery with a microscope. In this study, the authors report on application of this robotic device to endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery (ETSS) and evaluate their initial experiences. Methods The study population consisted of 43 patients: 29 with pituitary adenoma, 3 with meningioma, 3 with Rathke's cleft cyst, 2 with craniopharyngioma, 2 with chordoma, and 4 with other conditions. All patients underwent surgery via the endonasal transsphenoidal approach using a rigid endoscope. During the nasal and sphenoid phases, iArmS was used to support the surgeon's nondominant arm, which held the endoscope. The details of the iArmS and clinical results were collected. Results iArmS followed the surgeon's arm movement automatically. It reduced the surgeon's fatigue and stabilized the surgeon's hand during ETSS. Shaking of the video image decreased due to the steadying of the surgeon's scope-holding hand with iArmS. There were no complications related to use of the device. Conclusions The intelligent armrest, iArmS, seems to be safe and effective during ETSS. iArmS is helpful for improving the precision and safety not only for microscopic neurosurgery, but also for ETSS. Ongoing advances in robotics ensure the continued evolution of neurosurgery.

Brain-robot interface driven plasticity: Distributed modulation of corticospinal excitability.

PubMed

Kraus, Dominic; Naros, Georgios; Bauer, Robert; Leão, Maria Teresa; Ziemann, Ulf; Gharabaghi, Alireza

2016-01-15

Brain-robot interfaces (BRI) are studied as novel interventions to facilitate functional restoration in patients with severe and persistent motor deficits following stroke. They bridge the impaired connection in the sensorimotor loop by providing brain-state dependent proprioceptive feedback with orthotic devices attached to the hand or arm of the patients. The underlying neurophysiology of this BRI neuromodulation is still largely unknown. We investigated changes of corticospinal excitability with transcranial magnetic stimulation in thirteen right-handed healthy subjects who performed 40min of kinesthetic motor imagery receiving proprioceptive feedback with a robotic orthosis attached to the left hand contingent to event-related desynchronization of the right sensorimotor cortex in the β-band (16-22Hz). Neural correlates of this BRI intervention were probed by acquiring the stimulus-response curve (SRC) of both motor evoked potential (MEP) peak-to-peak amplitudes and areas under the curve. In addition, a motor mapping was obtained. The specificity of the effects was studied by comparing two neighboring hand muscles, one BRI-trained and one control muscle. Robust changes of MEP amplitude but not MEP area occurred following the BRI intervention, but only in the BRI-trained muscle. The steep part of the SRC showed an MEP increase, while the plateau of the SRC showed an MEP decrease. MEP mapping revealed a distributed pattern with a decrease of excitability in the hand area of the primary motor cortex, which controlled the BRI, but an increase of excitability in the surrounding somatosensory and premotor cortex. In conclusion, the BRI intervention induced a complex pattern of modulated corticospinal excitability, which may boost subsequent motor learning during physiotherapy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Combined analysis of cortical (EEG) and nerve stump signals improves robotic hand control.

PubMed

Tombini, Mario; Rigosa, Jacopo; Zappasodi, Filippo; Porcaro, Camillo; Citi, Luca; Carpaneto, Jacopo; Rossini, Paolo Maria; Micera, Silvestro

2012-01-01

Interfacing an amputee's upper-extremity stump nerves to control a robotic hand requires training of the individual and algorithms to process interactions between cortical and peripheral signals. To evaluate for the first time whether EEG-driven analysis of peripheral neural signals as an amputee practices could improve the classification of motor commands. Four thin-film longitudinal intrafascicular electrodes (tf-LIFEs-4) were implanted in the median and ulnar nerves of the stump in the distal upper arm for 4 weeks. Artificial intelligence classifiers were implemented to analyze LIFE signals recorded while the participant tried to perform 3 different hand and finger movements as pictures representing these tasks were randomly presented on a screen. In the final week, the participant was trained to perform the same movements with a robotic hand prosthesis through modulation of tf-LIFE-4 signals. To improve the classification performance, an event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) procedure was applied to EEG data to identify the exact timing of each motor command. Real-time control of neural (motor) output was achieved by the participant. By focusing electroneurographic (ENG) signal analysis in an EEG-driven time window, movement classification performance improved. After training, the participant regained normal modulation of background rhythms for movement preparation (α/β band desynchronization) in the sensorimotor area contralateral to the missing limb. Moreover, coherence analysis found a restored α band synchronization of Rolandic area with frontal and parietal ipsilateral regions, similar to that observed in the opposite hemisphere for movement of the intact hand. Of note, phantom limb pain (PLP) resolved for several months. Combining information from both cortical (EEG) and stump nerve (ENG) signals improved the classification performance compared with tf-LIFE signals processing alone; training led to cortical reorganization and mitigation of PLP.

Systematic changes in position sense accompany normal aging across adulthood.

PubMed

Herter, Troy M; Scott, Stephen H; Dukelow, Sean P

2014-03-25

Development of clinical neurological assessments aimed at separating normal from abnormal capabilities requires a comprehensive understanding of how basic neurological functions change (or do not change) with increasing age across adulthood. In the case of proprioception, the research literature has failed to conclusively determine whether or not position sense in the upper limb deteriorates in elderly individuals. The present study was conducted a) to quantify whether upper limb position sense deteriorates with increasing age, and b) to generate a set of normative data that can be used for future comparisons with clinical populations. We examined position sense in 209 healthy males and females between the ages of 18 and 90 using a robotic arm position-matching task that is both objective and reliable. In this task, the robot moved an arm to one of nine positions and subjects attempted to mirror-match that position with the opposite limb. Measures of position sense were recorded by the robotic apparatus in hand-and joint-based coordinates, and linear regressions were used to quantify age-related changes and percentile boundaries of normal behaviour. For clinical comparisons, we also examined influences of sex (male versus female) and test-hand (dominant versus non-dominant) on all measures of position sense. Analyses of hand-based parameters identified several measures of position sense (Variability, Shift, Spatial Contraction, Absolute Error) with significant effects of age, sex, and test-hand. Joint-based parameters at the shoulder (Absolute Error) and elbow (Variability, Shift, Absolute Error) also exhibited significant effects of age and test-hand. The present study provides strong evidence that several measures of upper extremity position sense exhibit declines with age. Furthermore, this data provides a basis for quantifying when changes in position sense are related to normal aging or alternatively, pathology.

[A plane-based hand-eye calibration method for surgical robots].

PubMed

Zeng, Bowei; Meng, Fanle; Ding, Hui; Liu, Wenbo; Wu, Di; Wang, Guangzhi

2017-04-01

In order to calibrate the hand-eye transformation of the surgical robot and laser range finder (LRF), a calibration algorithm based on a planar template was designed. A mathematical model of the planar template had been given and the approach to address the equations had been derived. Aiming at the problems of the measurement error in a practical system, we proposed a new algorithm for selecting coplanar data. This algorithm can effectively eliminate considerable measurement error data to improve the calibration accuracy. Furthermore, three orthogonal planes were used to improve the calibration accuracy, in which a nonlinear optimization for hand-eye calibration was used. With the purpose of verifying the calibration precision, we used the LRF to measure some fixed points in different directions and a cuboid's surfaces. Experimental results indicated that the precision of a single planar template method was (1.37±0.24) mm, and that of the three orthogonal planes method was (0.37±0.05) mm. Moreover, the mean FRE of three-dimensional (3D) points was 0.24 mm and mean TRE was 0.26 mm. The maximum angle measurement error was 0.4 degree. Experimental results show that the method presented in this paper is effective with high accuracy and can meet the requirements of surgical robot precise location.

Brain activation in parietal area during manipulation with a surgical robot simulator.

PubMed

Miura, Satoshi; Kobayashi, Yo; Kawamura, Kazuya; Nakashima, Yasutaka; Fujie, Masakatsu G

2015-06-01

we present an evaluation method to qualify the embodiment caused by the physical difference between master-slave surgical robots by measuring the activation of the intraparietal sulcus in the user's brain activity during surgical robot manipulation. We show the change of embodiment based on the change of the optical axis-to-target view angle in the surgical simulator to change the manipulator's appearance in the monitor in terms of hand-eye coordination. The objective is to explore the change of brain activation according to the change of the optical axis-to-target view angle. In the experiments, we used a functional near-infrared spectroscopic topography (f-NIRS) brain imaging device to measure the brain activity of the seven subjects while they moved the hand controller to insert a curved needle into a target using the manipulator in a surgical simulator. The experiment was carried out several times with a variety of optical axis-to-target view angles. Some participants showed a significant peak (P value = 0.037, F-number = 2.841) when the optical axis-to-target view angle was 75°. The positional relationship between the manipulators and endoscope at 75° would be the closest to the human physical relationship between the hands and eyes.

Haptic-Based Neurorehabilitation in Poststroke Patients: A Feasibility Prospective Multicentre Trial for Robotics Hand Rehabilitation

PubMed Central

Daud Albasini, Omar A.; Oboe, Roberto; Tonin, Paolo; Paolucci, Stefano; Sandrini, Giorgio; Piron, Lamberto

2013-01-01

Background. Haptic robots allow the exploitation of known motor learning mechanisms, representing a valuable option for motor treatment after stroke. The aim of this feasibility multicentre study was to test the clinical efficacy of a haptic prototype, for the recovery of hand function after stroke. Methods. A prospective pilot clinical trial was planned on 15 consecutive patients enrolled in 3 rehabilitation centre in Italy. All the framework features of the haptic robot (e.g., control loop, external communication, and graphic rendering for virtual reality) were implemented into a real-time MATLAB/Simulink environment, controlling a five-bar linkage able to provide forces up to 20 [N] at the end effector, used for finger and hand rehabilitation therapies. Clinical (i.e., Fugl-Meyer upper extremity scale; nine hold pegboard test) and kinematics (i.e., time; velocity; jerk metric; normalized jerk of standard movements) outcomes were assessed before and after treatment to detect changes in patients' motor performance. Reorganization of cortical activation was detected in one patient by fMRI. Results and Conclusions. All patients showed significant improvements in both clinical and kinematic outcomes. Additionally, fMRI results suggest that the proposed approach may promote a better cortical activation in the brain. PMID:24319496

Haptic-based neurorehabilitation in poststroke patients: a feasibility prospective multicentre trial for robotics hand rehabilitation.

PubMed

Turolla, Andrea; Daud Albasini, Omar A; Oboe, Roberto; Agostini, Michela; Tonin, Paolo; Paolucci, Stefano; Sandrini, Giorgio; Venneri, Annalena; Piron, Lamberto

2013-01-01

Background. Haptic robots allow the exploitation of known motor learning mechanisms, representing a valuable option for motor treatment after stroke. The aim of this feasibility multicentre study was to test the clinical efficacy of a haptic prototype, for the recovery of hand function after stroke. Methods. A prospective pilot clinical trial was planned on 15 consecutive patients enrolled in 3 rehabilitation centre in Italy. All the framework features of the haptic robot (e.g., control loop, external communication, and graphic rendering for virtual reality) were implemented into a real-time MATLAB/Simulink environment, controlling a five-bar linkage able to provide forces up to 20 [N] at the end effector, used for finger and hand rehabilitation therapies. Clinical (i.e., Fugl-Meyer upper extremity scale; nine hold pegboard test) and kinematics (i.e., time; velocity; jerk metric; normalized jerk of standard movements) outcomes were assessed before and after treatment to detect changes in patients' motor performance. Reorganization of cortical activation was detected in one patient by fMRI. Results and Conclusions. All patients showed significant improvements in both clinical and kinematic outcomes. Additionally, fMRI results suggest that the proposed approach may promote a better cortical activation in the brain.

Retropharyngeal Contralateral C7 Nerve Transfer to the Lower Trunk for Brachial Plexus Birth Injury: Technique and Results.

PubMed

Vu, Anthony T; Sparkman, Darlene M; van Belle, Christopher J; Yakuboff, Kevin P; Schwentker, Ann R

2018-05-01

Brachial plexus birth injuries with multiple nerve root avulsions present a particularly difficult reconstructive challenge because of the limited availability of donor nerves. The contralateral C7 has been described for brachial plexus reconstruction in adults but has not been well-studied in the pediatric population. We present our technique and results for retropharyngeal contralateral C7 nerve transfer to the lower trunk for brachial plexus birth injury. We performed a retrospective review. Any child aged less than 2 years was included. Charts were analyzed for patient demographic data, operative variables, functional outcomes, complications, and length of follow-up. We had a total of 5 patients. Average nerve graft length was 3 cm. All patients had return of hand sensation to the ulnar nerve distribution as evidenced by a pinch test, unprompted use of the recipient limb without mirror movement, and an Active Movement Scale (AMS) of at least 2/7 for finger and thumb flexion; one patient had an AMS of 7/7 for finger and thumb flexion. Only one patient had return of ulnar intrinsic hand function with an AMS of 3/7. Two patients had temporary triceps weakness in the donor limb and one had clinically insignificant temporary phrenic nerve paresis. No complications were related to the retropharyngeal nerve dissection in any patient. Average follow-up was 3.3 years. The retropharyngeal contralateral C7 nerve transfer is a safe way to supply extra axons to the severely injured arm in brachial plexus birth injuries with no permanent donor limb deficits. Early functional recovery in these patients, with regard to hand function and sensation, is promising. Therapeutic V. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sensation, mechanoreceptor, and nerve fiber function after nerve regeneration.

PubMed

Krarup, Christian; Rosén, Birgitta; Boeckstyns, Michel; Ibsen Sørensen, Allan; Lundborg, Göran; Moldovan, Mihai; Archibald, Simon J

2017-12-01

Sensation is essential for recovery after peripheral nerve injury. However, the relationship between sensory modalities and function of regenerated fibers is uncertain. We have investigated the relationships between touch threshold, tactile gnosis, and mechanoreceptor and sensory fiber function after nerve regeneration. Twenty-one median or ulnar nerve lesions were repaired by a collagen nerve conduit or direct suture. Quantitative sensory hand function and sensory conduction studies by near-nerve technique, including tactile stimulation of mechanoreceptors, were followed for 2 years, and results were compared to noninjured hands. At both repair methods, touch thresholds at the finger tips recovered to 81 ± 3% and tactile gnosis only to 20 ± 4% (p < 0.001) of control. The sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs) remained dispersed and areas recovered to 23 ± 2% and the amplitudes only to 7 ± 1% (P < 0.001). The areas of SNAPs after tactile stimulation recovered to 61 ± 11% and remained slowed. Touch sensation correlated with SNAP areas (p < 0.005) and was negatively related to the prolongation of tactile latencies (p < 0.01); tactile gnosis was not related to electrophysiological parameters. The recovered function of regenerated peripheral nerve fibers and reinnervated mechanoreceptors may differentially influence recovery of sensory modalities. Touch was affected by the number and function of regenerated fibers and mechanoreceptors. In contrast, tactile gnosis depends on the input and plasticity of the central nervous system (CNS), which may explain the absence of a direct relation between electrophysiological parameters and poor recovery. Dispersed maturation of sensory nerve fibers with desynchronized inputs to the CNS also contributes to the poor recovery of tactile gnosis. Ann Neurol 2017. Ann Neurol 2017;82:940-950. © 2017 American Neurological Association.

Virtual Reality System Offers a Wide Perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

Robot Systems Technology Branch engineers at Johnson Space Center created the remotely controlled Robonaut for use as an additional "set of hands" in extravehicular activities (EVAs) and to allow exploration of environments that would be too dangerous or difficult for humans. One of the problems Robonaut developers encountered was that the robot s interface offered an extremely limited field of vision. Johnson robotics engineer, Darby Magruder, explained that the 40-degree field-of-view (FOV) in initial robotic prototypes provided very narrow tunnel vision, which posed difficulties for Robonaut operators trying to see the robot s surroundings. Because of the narrow FOV, NASA decided to reach out to the private sector for assistance. In addition to a wider FOV, NASA also desired higher resolution in a head-mounted display (HMD) with the added ability to capture and display video.

KSC-99pp0275

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-03-06

Robots, maneuvered by student teams behind protective walls, raise their caches of pillow-like disks to earn points in competition while spectators in the bleachers and on the sidelines cheer their favorite teams. Held at the KSC Visitor Complex, the 1999 Southeastern Regional robotic competition, sponsored by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST, comprises 27 teams pairing high school students with engineer mentors and corporations, pitting gladiator robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. Powered by 12-volt batteries and operated by remote control, the robotic gladiators spend two minutes each trying to grab, claw and hoist the pillows onto their machines. Teams play defense by taking away competitors' pillows and generally harassing opposing machines. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers

Final matches of the FIRST regional robotic competition at KSC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Student teams behind protective walls operate remote controls to maneuver their robots around the playing field during the 1999 FIRST Southeastern Regional robotic competition held at KSC. The robotic gladiators spent two minutes each trying to grab, claw and hoist large, satin pillows onto their machines. Teams played defense by taking away competitors' pillows and generally harassing opposing machines. On the side of the field are the judges, including (far left) Deputy Director for Launch and Payload Processing Loren Shriver and former KSC Director of Shuttle Processing Robert Sieck. A giant screen TV displays the action on the field. The competition comprised 27 teams, pairing high school students with engineer mentors and corporations. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers.

Unsteady hydrodynamic forces acting on a robotic arm and its flow field: application to the crawl stroke.

PubMed

Takagi, Hideki; Nakashima, Motomu; Ozaki, Takashi; Matsuuchi, Kazuo

2014-04-11

This study aims to clarify the mechanisms by which unsteady hydrodynamic forces act on the hand of a swimmer during a crawl stroke. Measurements were performed for a hand attached to a robotic arm with five degrees of freedom independently controlled by a computer. The computer was programmed so the hand and arm mimicked a human performing the stroke. We directly measured forces on the hand and pressure distributions around it at 200 Hz; flow fields underwater near the hand were obtained via 2D particle image velocimetry (PIV). The data revealed two mechanisms that generate unsteady forces during a crawl stroke. One is the unsteady lift force generated when hand movement changes direction during the stroke, leading to vortex shedding and bound vortex created around it. This bound vortex circulation results in a lift that contributes to the thrust. The other occurs when the hand moves linearly with a large angle of attack, creating a Kármán vortex street. This street alternatively sheds clockwise and counterclockwise vortices, resulting in a quasi-steady drag contributing to the thrust. We presume that professional swimmers benefit from both mechanisms. Further studies are necessary in which 3D flow fields are measured using a 3D PIV system and a human swimmer. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digital Adultery, "Meta-Anon Widows," Real-World Divorce, and the Need for a Virtual Sexual Ethic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spencer, William David

Ethical issues that have emerged around relationships in virtual worlds can inform the way we approach the ethics of human/robot relationships. A workable ethic would be one that treats marriage as an enduring human institution and, while we value robots as worthy works of our hands, they are inappropriate partners for marital or sexual relationships.

Astro STARS Camp

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-06-15

Summer is a time of educational activity at Stennis Space Center. In June 2012, 25 young people age 13-15 attended the annual Astro STARS (Spaceflight, Technology, Astronomy and Robotics at Stennis) camp at the rocket engine test facility. During the five-day camp, participants engaged in hands-on experiences in a variety of areas, including engineering and robotics. On the final day, campers launched model rockets they had assembled.

Whole glove permeation of cyclohexanol through disposable nitrile gloves on a dextrous robot hand and comparison with the modified closed-loop ASTM F739 method 1. No fist clenching.

PubMed

Mathews, Airek R; Que Hee, Shane S

2017-04-01

The aim was to develop a whole glove permeation method for cyclohexanol to generate permeation parameter data for a non-moving dextrous robot hand (normalized breakthrough time t b , standardized breakthrough time t s , steady state permeation rate P s , and diffusion coefficient D). Four types of disposable powderless, unsupported, and unlined nitrile gloves from the same producer were investigated: Safeskin Blue and Kimtech Science Blue, Purple, and Sterling. The whole glove method developed involved a peristaltic pump for water circulation through chemically resistant Viton tubing to continually wash the inner surface of the test glove via holes in the tubing, a dextrous robot hand operated by a microprocessor, a chemically protective nitrile glove to protect the robot hand, an incubator to maintain 35°C temperature, and a hot plate to maintain 35°C at the sampling point of the circulating water. Aliquots of 1.0 mL were sampled at regular time intervals for the first 60 min followed by removal of 0.5 mL aliquots every hour to 8 hr. Quantification was by the internal standard method after gas chromatography-selective ion electron impact mass spectrometry using a non-polar capillary column. The individual glove values of t b and t s differed for the ASTM closed loop method except for Safeskin Blue, but did not for the whole glove method. Most of the kinetic parameters agreed within an order of magnitude for the two techniques. The order of most protective to least protective glove was Blue and Safeskin, then Purple followed by Sterling for the whole gloves. The analogous order for the modified F739 ASTM closed loop method was: Safeskin, Blue, Purple, and Sterling, almost the same as for the whole glove. The Sterling glove was "not recommended" from the modified ASTM data, and was "poor" from the whole glove data.

Augmented robotic device for EVA hand manoeuvres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matheson, Eloise; Brooker, Graham

2012-12-01

During extravehicular activities (EVAs), pressurised space suits can lead to difficulties in performing hand manoeuvres and fatigue. This is often the cause of EVAs being terminated early, or taking longer to complete. Assistive robotic gloves can be used to augment the natural motion of a human hand, meaning work can be carried out more efficiently with less stress to the astronaut. Lightweight and low profile solutions must be found in order for the assistive robotic glove to be easily integrated with a space suit pressure garment. Pneumatic muscle actuators combined with force sensors are one such solution. These actuators are extremely light, yet can output high forces using pressurised gases as the actuation drive. Their movement is omnidirectional, so when combined with a flexible exoskeleton that itself provides a degree of freedom of movement, individual fingers can be controlled during flexion and extension. This setup allows actuators and other hardware to be stored remotely on the user's body, resulting in the least possible mass being supported by the hand. Two prototype gloves have been developed at the University of Sydney; prototype I using a fibreglass exoskeleton to provide flexion force, and prototype II using torsion springs to achieve the same result. The gloves have been designed to increase the ease of human movements, rather than to add unnatural ability to the hand. A state space control algorithm has been developed to ensure that human initiated movements are recognised, and calibration methods have been implemented to accommodate the different characteristics of each wearer's hands. For this calibration technique, it was necessary to take into account the natural tremors of the human hand which may have otherwise initiated unexpected control signals. Prototype I was able to actuate the user's hand in 1 degree of freedom (DOF) from full flexion to partial extension, and prototype II actuated a user's finger in 2 DOF with forces achieved comparable to those of a natural, healthy hand. The minimum mass held by the user on the hand was 240 g, with remote hardware, including a compressed air bottle, having a further mass of 1.6 kg. These results indicate that the design is able to augment human motion in a low profile, low mass package, and could be a valuable addition to a space suit during an EVA.

Finger tips detection for two handed gesture recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhuyan, M. K.; Kar, Mithun Kumar; Neog, Debanga Raj

2011-10-01

In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed for fingertips detection in view of two-handed static hand pose recognition. In our method, finger tips of both hands are detected after detecting hand regions by skin color-based segmentation. At first, the face is removed in the image by using Haar classifier and subsequently, the regions corresponding to the gesturing hands are isolated by a region labeling technique. Next, the key geometric features characterizing gesturing hands are extracted for two hands. Finally, for all possible/allowable finger movements, a probabilistic model is developed for pose recognition. Proposed method can be employed in a variety of applications like sign language recognition and human-robot-interactions etc.

A Vision-Based Self-Calibration Method for Robotic Visual Inspection Systems

PubMed Central

Yin, Shibin; Ren, Yongjie; Zhu, Jigui; Yang, Shourui; Ye, Shenghua

2013-01-01

A vision-based robot self-calibration method is proposed in this paper to evaluate the kinematic parameter errors of a robot using a visual sensor mounted on its end-effector. This approach could be performed in the industrial field without external, expensive apparatus or an elaborate setup. A robot Tool Center Point (TCP) is defined in the structural model of a line-structured laser sensor, and aligned to a reference point fixed in the robot workspace. A mathematical model is established to formulate the misalignment errors with kinematic parameter errors and TCP position errors. Based on the fixed point constraints, the kinematic parameter errors and TCP position errors are identified with an iterative algorithm. Compared to the conventional methods, this proposed method eliminates the need for a robot-based-frame and hand-to-eye calibrations, shortens the error propagation chain, and makes the calibration process more accurate and convenient. A validation experiment is performed on an ABB IRB2400 robot. An optimal configuration on the number and distribution of fixed points in the robot workspace is obtained based on the experimental results. Comparative experiments reveal that there is a significant improvement of the measuring accuracy of the robotic visual inspection system. PMID:24300597

Deploying the ODIS robot in Iraq and Afghanistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smuda, Bill; Schoenherr, Edward; Andrusz, Henry; Gerhart, Grant

2005-05-01

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown the importance of robotic technology as a force multiplier and a tool for moving soldiers out of harms way. Situations on the ground make soldiers performing checkpoint operations easy targets for snipers and suicide bombers. Robotics technology reduces risk to soldiers and other personnel at checkpoints. Early user involvement in innovative and aggressive development and acquisition strategies are the key to moving robotic and associated technology into the hands of the user. This paper updates activity associated with rapid development of the Omni-Directional Inspection System (ODIS) robot for under vehicle inspection and reports on our field experience with robotics in Iraq and Afghanistan. In February of 2004, two TARDEC Engineers departed for a mission to Iraq and Afghanistan with ten ODIS Robots. Six robots were deployed in the Green Zone in Baghdad. Two Robots were deployed at Kandahar Army Airfield and two were deployed at Bagram Army Airfield in Afghanistan. The TARDEC Engineers who performed this mission trained the soldiers and provided initial on site support. They also trained Exponent employees assigned to the Rapid Equipping Force in ODIS repair. We will discuss our initial deployment, lessons learned and future plans.

Persistence of the uncanny valley: the influence of repeated interactions and a robot's attitude on its perception

PubMed Central

Złotowski, Jakub A.; Sumioka, Hidenobu; Nishio, Shuichi; Glas, Dylan F.; Bartneck, Christoph; Ishiguro, Hiroshi

2015-01-01

The uncanny valley theory proposed by Mori has been heavily investigated in the recent years by researchers from various fields. However, the videos and images used in these studies did not permit any human interaction with the uncanny objects. Therefore, in the field of human-robot interaction it is still unclear what, if any, impact an uncanny-looking robot will have in the context of an interaction. In this paper we describe an exploratory empirical study using a live interaction paradigm that involved repeated interactions with robots that differed in embodiment and their attitude toward a human. We found that both investigated components of the uncanniness (likeability and eeriness) can be affected by an interaction with a robot. Likeability of a robot was mainly affected by its attitude and this effect was especially prominent for a machine-like robot. On the other hand, merely repeating interactions was sufficient to reduce eeriness irrespective of a robot's embodiment. As a result we urge other researchers to investigate Mori's theory in studies that involve actual human-robot interaction in order to fully understand the changing nature of this phenomenon. PMID:26175702

Persistence of the uncanny valley: the influence of repeated interactions and a robot's attitude on its perception.

PubMed

Złotowski, Jakub A; Sumioka, Hidenobu; Nishio, Shuichi; Glas, Dylan F; Bartneck, Christoph; Ishiguro, Hiroshi

2015-01-01

The uncanny valley theory proposed by Mori has been heavily investigated in the recent years by researchers from various fields. However, the videos and images used in these studies did not permit any human interaction with the uncanny objects. Therefore, in the field of human-robot interaction it is still unclear what, if any, impact an uncanny-looking robot will have in the context of an interaction. In this paper we describe an exploratory empirical study using a live interaction paradigm that involved repeated interactions with robots that differed in embodiment and their attitude toward a human. We found that both investigated components of the uncanniness (likeability and eeriness) can be affected by an interaction with a robot. Likeability of a robot was mainly affected by its attitude and this effect was especially prominent for a machine-like robot. On the other hand, merely repeating interactions was sufficient to reduce eeriness irrespective of a robot's embodiment. As a result we urge other researchers to investigate Mori's theory in studies that involve actual human-robot interaction in order to fully understand the changing nature of this phenomenon.

5,4,3,2,...Thumbs Up!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brannon, Frank

1997-01-01

Presents activities for K-4 students that explore two areas of body mechanics--bones and joints--with an emphasis on the human hand. Relates knowledge of how the body functions to comparable examples in robotics such as the "hand" of the Canadarm of the space shuttle. Activities are geared for students in pairs. (AIM)

Sensing qualitative events to control manipulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pook, Polly K.; Ballard, Dana H.

1992-11-01

Dexterous robotic hands have numerous sensors distributed over a flexible high-degree-of- freedom framework. Control of these hands often relies on a detailed task description that is either specified a priori or computed on-line from sensory feedback. Such controllers are complex and may use unnecessary precision. In contrast, one can incorporate plan cues that provide a contextual backdrop in order to simplify the control task. To demonstrate, a Utah/MIT dexterous hand mounted on a Puma 760 arm flips a plastic egg, using the finger tendon tensions as the sole control signal. The completion of each subtask, such as picking up the spatula, finding the pan, and sliding the spatula under the egg, is detected by sensing tension states. The strategy depends on the task context but does not require precise positioning knowledge. We term this qualitative manipulation to draw a parallel with qualitative vision strategies. The approach is to design closed-loop programs that detect significant events to control manipulation but ignore inessential details. The strategy is generalized by analyzing the robot state dynamics during teleoperated hand actions to reveal the essential features that control each action.

Does Seeing Ice Really Feel Cold? Visual-Thermal Interaction under an Illusory Body-Ownership

PubMed Central

Kanaya, Shoko; Matsushima, Yuka; Yokosawa, Kazuhiko

2012-01-01

Although visual information seems to affect thermal perception (e.g. red color is associated with heat), previous studies have failed to demonstrate the interaction between visual and thermal senses. However, it has been reported that humans feel an illusory thermal sensation in conjunction with an apparently-thermal visual stimulus placed on a prosthetic hand in the rubber hand illusion (RHI) wherein an individual feels that a prosthetic (rubber) hand belongs to him/her. This study tests the possibility that the ownership of the body surface on which a visual stimulus is placed enhances the likelihood of a visual-thermal interaction. We orthogonally manipulated three variables: induced hand-ownership, visually-presented thermal information, and tactically-presented physical thermal information. Results indicated that the sight of an apparently-thermal object on a rubber hand that is illusorily perceived as one's own hand affects thermal judgments about the object physically touching this hand. This effect was not observed without the RHI. The importance of ownership of a body part that is touched by the visual object on the visual-thermal interaction is discussed. PMID:23144814

Does seeing ice really feel cold? Visual-thermal interaction under an illusory body-ownership.

PubMed

Kanaya, Shoko; Matsushima, Yuka; Yokosawa, Kazuhiko

2012-01-01

Although visual information seems to affect thermal perception (e.g. red color is associated with heat), previous studies have failed to demonstrate the interaction between visual and thermal senses. However, it has been reported that humans feel an illusory thermal sensation in conjunction with an apparently-thermal visual stimulus placed on a prosthetic hand in the rubber hand illusion (RHI) wherein an individual feels that a prosthetic (rubber) hand belongs to him/her. This study tests the possibility that the ownership of the body surface on which a visual stimulus is placed enhances the likelihood of a visual-thermal interaction. We orthogonally manipulated three variables: induced hand-ownership, visually-presented thermal information, and tactically-presented physical thermal information. Results indicated that the sight of an apparently-thermal object on a rubber hand that is illusorily perceived as one's own hand affects thermal judgments about the object physically touching this hand. This effect was not observed without the RHI. The importance of ownership of a body part that is touched by the visual object on the visual-thermal interaction is discussed.

Hand function in workers with hand-arm vibration syndrome.

PubMed

Cederlund, R; Isacsson, A; Lundborg, G

1999-01-01

Hand-arm vibration syndrome has been specially addressed in the Scandinavian countries in recent years, but the syndrome is still not sufficiently recognized in many countries. The object of this preliminary study was to describe the nature and character of vibration-induced impairment in the hands of exposed workers. Twenty symptomatic male workers (aged 28 to 65 years) subjected to vibration by hand-held tools were interviewed about subjective symptoms and activities of daily living and were assessed with a battery of objective tests for sensibility, dexterity, grip function, and grip strength. The test results were compared with normative data. The majority of patients complained of cold intolerance, numbness, pain, sensory impairment, and difficulties in handling manual tools and in handwriting. The various objective tests showed considerable variation in indications of pathologic outcome, revealing differences in sensitivity to detect impaired hand function. Semmes-Weinstein monofilament testing for perception of light touch-deep pressure sensation, the small-object shape identification test, and moving two-point discrimination testing for functional sensibility provided the most indications of pathologic outcomes. The authors conclude that vibration-exposed patients present considerable impairment in hand function.

Robots to assist daily activities: views of older adults with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers.

PubMed

Wang, Rosalie H; Sudhama, Aishwarya; Begum, Momotaz; Huq, Rajibul; Mihailidis, Alex

2017-01-01

Robots have the potential to both enable older adults with dementia to perform daily activities with greater independence, and provide support to caregivers. This study explored perspectives of older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their caregivers on robots that provide stepwise prompting to complete activities in the home. Ten dyads participated: Older adults with mild-to-moderate AD and difficulty completing activity steps, and their family caregivers. Older adults were prompted by a tele-operated robot to wash their hands in the bathroom and make a cup of tea in the kitchen. Caregivers observed interactions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually. Transcribed interviews were thematically analyzed. Three themes summarized responses to robot interactions: contemplating a future with assistive robots, considering opportunities with assistive robots, and reflecting on implications for social relationships. Older adults expressed opportunities for robots to help in daily activities, were open to the idea of robotic assistance, but did not want a robot. Caregivers identified numerous opportunities and were more open to robots. Several wanted a robot, if available. Positive consequences of robots in caregiving scenarios could include decreased frustration, stress, and relationship strain, and increased social interaction via the robot. A negative consequence could be decreased interaction with caregivers. Few studies have investigated in-depth perspectives of older adults with dementia and their caregivers following direct interaction with an assistive prompting robot. To fulfill the potential of robots, continued dialogue between users and developers, and consideration of robot design and caregiving relationship factors are necessary.

A robotic wheelchair trainer: design overview and a feasibility study

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Experiencing independent mobility is important for children with a severe movement disability, but learning to drive a powered wheelchair can be labor intensive, requiring hand-over-hand assistance from a skilled therapist. Methods To improve accessibility to training, we developed a robotic wheelchair trainer that steers itself along a course marked by a line on the floor using computer vision, haptically guiding the driver's hand in appropriate steering motions using a force feedback joystick, as the driver tries to catch a mobile robot in a game of "robot tag". This paper provides a detailed design description of the computer vision and control system. In addition, we present data from a pilot study in which we used the chair to teach children without motor impairment aged 4-9 (n = 22) to drive the wheelchair in a single training session, in order to verify that the wheelchair could enable learning by the non-impaired motor system, and to establish normative values of learning rates. Results and Discussion Training with haptic guidance from the robotic wheelchair trainer improved the steering ability of children without motor impairment significantly more than training without guidance. We also report the results of a case study with one 8-year-old child with a severe motor impairment due to cerebral palsy, who replicated the single-session training protocol that the non-disabled children participated in. This child also improved steering ability after training with guidance from the joystick by an amount even greater than the children without motor impairment. Conclusions The system not only provided a safe, fun context for automating driver's training, but also enhanced motor learning by the non-impaired motor system, presumably by demonstrating through intuitive movement and force of the joystick itself exemplary control to follow the course. The case study indicates that a child with a motor system impaired by CP can also gain a short-term benefit from driver's training with haptic guidance. PMID:20707886

A robotic wheelchair trainer: design overview and a feasibility study.

PubMed

Marchal-Crespo, Laura; Furumasu, Jan; Reinkensmeyer, David J

2010-08-13

Experiencing independent mobility is important for children with a severe movement disability, but learning to drive a powered wheelchair can be labor intensive, requiring hand-over-hand assistance from a skilled therapist. To improve accessibility to training, we developed a robotic wheelchair trainer that steers itself along a course marked by a line on the floor using computer vision, haptically guiding the driver's hand in appropriate steering motions using a force feedback joystick, as the driver tries to catch a mobile robot in a game of "robot tag". This paper provides a detailed design description of the computer vision and control system. In addition, we present data from a pilot study in which we used the chair to teach children without motor impairment aged 4-9 (n = 22) to drive the wheelchair in a single training session, in order to verify that the wheelchair could enable learning by the non-impaired motor system, and to establish normative values of learning rates. Training with haptic guidance from the robotic wheelchair trainer improved the steering ability of children without motor impairment significantly more than training without guidance. We also report the results of a case study with one 8-year-old child with a severe motor impairment due to cerebral palsy, who replicated the single-session training protocol that the non-disabled children participated in. This child also improved steering ability after training with guidance from the joystick by an amount even greater than the children without motor impairment. The system not only provided a safe, fun context for automating driver's training, but also enhanced motor learning by the non-impaired motor system, presumably by demonstrating through intuitive movement and force of the joystick itself exemplary control to follow the course. The case study indicates that a child with a motor system impaired by CP can also gain a short-term benefit from driver's training with haptic guidance.

Perioperative nurse training in cardiothoracic surgical robotics.

PubMed

Connor, M A; Reinbolt, J A; Handley, P J

2001-12-01

The exponential growth of OR technology during the past 10 years has placed increased demands on perioperative nurses. Proficiency is required not only in patient care but also in the understanding, operating, and troubleshooting of video systems, computers, and cutting edge medical devices. The formation of a surgical team dedicated to robotically assisted cardiac surgery requires careful selection, education, and hands-on practice. This article details the six-week training process undertaken at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota, Fla, which enabled staff members to deliver excellent patient care with a high degree of confidence in themselves and the robotic technology.

Kinesthetic sensitivity and related measures of hand sensitivity in children with nonproficient handwriting.

PubMed

Brink, Anne O'Leary; Jacobs, Anne Burleigh

2011-01-01

This study compared measures of hand sensitivity and handwriting quality in children aged 10 to 12 years identified by their teachers as having nonproficient or proficient handwriting. We hypothesized that children with nonproficient handwriting have decreased kinesthetic sensitivity of the hands and digits. Sixteen subjects without documented motor or cognitive concerns were tested for kinesthetic sensitivity, discriminate tactile awareness, diadochokinesia, stereognosis, and graphesthesia. Eight children were considered to have nonproficient handwriting; 8 had proficient handwriting. Nonparametric Mann-Whitney U tests were used to identify differences between groups on sensory tests. The 2 groups showed a statistically significant difference in handwriting legibility (P = .018). No significant difference was found on tests of kinesthetic sensitivity or other measures of sensation. Children presenting with handwriting difficulty as the only complaint have similar sensitivity in hands and digits as those with proficient handwriting. Failure to detect differences may result from a small sample size.

Smooth leader or sharp follower? Playing the mirror game with a robot.

PubMed

Kashi, Shir; Levy-Tzedek, Shelly

2018-01-01

The increasing number of opportunities for human-robot interactions in various settings, from industry through home use to rehabilitation, creates a need to understand how to best personalize human-robot interactions to fit both the user and the task at hand. In the current experiment, we explored a human-robot collaborative task of joint movement, in the context of an interactive game. We set out to test people's preferences when interacting with a robotic arm, playing a leader-follower imitation game (the mirror game). Twenty two young participants played the mirror game with the robotic arm, where one player (person or robot) followed the movements of the other. Each partner (person and robot) was leading part of the time, and following part of the time. When the robotic arm was leading the joint movement, it performed movements that were either sharp or smooth, which participants were later asked to rate. The greatest preference was given to smooth movements. Half of the participants preferred to lead, and half preferred to follow. Importantly, we found that the movements of the robotic arm primed the subsequent movements performed by the participants. The priming effect by the robot on the movements of the human should be considered when designing interactions with robots. Our results demonstrate individual differences in preferences regarding the role of the human and the joint motion path of the robot and the human when performing the mirror game collaborative task, and highlight the importance of personalized human-robot interactions.