scholarly journals Sensorimotor impairment and haptic support in microgravity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Weber ◽  
Cornelia Riecke ◽  
Freek Stulp
Keyword(s):  
Force Feedback ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Space Mission ◽  
Transverse Motion ◽  
Microgravity Conditions ◽  
Sensorimotor Impairment ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Human Operators ◽  
Motion Plane ◽  
Sensorimotor Performance

AbstractFuture space missions envisage human operators teleoperating robotic systems from orbital spacecraft. A potential risk for such missions is the observation that sensorimotor performance deteriorates during spaceflight. This article describes an experiment on sensorimotor performance in two-dimensional manual tracking during different stages of a space mission. We investigated whether there are optimal haptic settings of the human-machine interface for microgravity conditions. Two empirical studies using the same task paradigm with a force feedback joystick with different haptic settings (no haptics, four spring stiffnesses, two motion dampings, three masses) are presented in this paper. (1) A terrestrial control study ($$N=20$$ N = 20 subjects) with five experimental sessions to explore potential learning effects and interactions with haptic settings. (2) A space experiment ($$N=3$$ N = 3 cosmonauts) with a pre-mission, three mission sessions on board the ISS (2, 4, and 6 weeks in space), and a post-mission session. Results provide evidence that distorted proprioception significantly affects motion smoothness in the early phase of adaptation to microgravity, while the magnitude of this effect was moderated by cosmonauts’ sensorimotor capabilities. Moreover, this sensorimotor impairment can be compensated by providing subtle haptic cues. Specifically, low damping improved tracking smoothness for both motion directions (sagittal and transverse motion plane) and low stiffness improved performance in the transverse motion plane.

scholarly journals Sensorimotor impairment from a new analog of spaceflight-altered neurovestibular cues

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-223
Author(s):  
Jordan B. Dixon ◽  
Torin K. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Head Tilt ◽  
Semicircular Canals ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Head Restraint ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Sensorimotor Impairment ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Extended Exposure ◽  
Sensorimotor Performance

Exposure to microgravity during spaceflight causes central reinterpretations of orientation sensory cues in astronauts, leading to sensorimotor impairment upon return to Earth. Currently there is no ground-based analog for the neurovestibular system relevant to spaceflight. We propose such an analog, which we term the “wheelchair head-immobilization paradigm” (WHIP). Subjects lie on their side on a bed fixed to a modified electric wheelchair, with their head restrained by a custom facemask. WHIP prevents any head tilt relative to gravity, which normally produces coupled stimulation to the otoliths and semicircular canals, but does not occur in microgravity. Decoupled stimulation is produced through translation and rotation on the wheelchair by the subject using a joystick. Following 12 h of WHIP exposure, subjects systematically felt illusory sensations of self-motion when making head tilts and had significant decrements in balance and locomotion function using tasks similar to those assessed in astronauts postspaceflight. These effects were not observed in our control groups without head restraint, suggesting the altered neurovestibular stimulation patterns experienced in WHIP lead to relevant central reinterpretations. We conclude by discussing the findings in light of postspaceflight sensorimotor impairment, WHIP’s uses beyond a spaceflight analog, limitations, and future work. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We propose, implement, and demonstrate the feasibility of a new analog for spaceflight-altered neurovestibular stimulation. Following extended exposure to the analog, we found subjects reported illusory self-motion perception. Furthermore, they demonstrated decrements in balance and locomotion, using tasks similar to those used to assess astronaut sensorimotor performance postspaceflight.

Design and Modeling of an Electro-Rheological Fluid Based Haptic Interface

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Mavroidis ◽  
C. Pfeiffer ◽  
J. Celestino ◽  
Y. Bar-Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Modeling ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Haptic Interface ◽  
Dexterous Manipulation ◽  
End Effector ◽  
Jet Propulsion ◽  
Field Robots ◽  
Rutgers University ◽  
Modeling And Experiments ◽  
Human Operators

Abstract In this project, Rutgers University has teamed with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to pursue the development and demonstration of a novel haptic interfacing capability called MEMICA (remote MEchanical MIrroring using Controlled stiffness and Actuators). MEMICA is intended to provide human operators intuitive and interactive feeling of the stiffness and forces at remote or virtual sites in support of space, medical, underwater, virtual reality, military and field robots performing dexterous manipulation operations. The key aspect of the MEMICA system is a miniature Electrically Controlled Stiffness (ECS) element that mirrors the stiffness at remote/virtual sites. The ECS elements make use of Electro-Rheological Fluid (ERF), which is an Electro-Active Polymer (EAP), to achieve this feeling of stiffness. Forces applied at the robot end-effector due to a compliant environment will be reflected to the user by this ERF device where a change in the system viscosity will occur proportionally to the force to be transmitted. This paper describes the analytical modeling and experiments that are currently underway to develop an ERF based force feedback element.

A Virtual Environment for the Simulation and Programming of Excavation Trajectories

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 465-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon P. DiMaio ◽  
Septimiu E. Salcudean ◽  
Claude Reboulet
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Haptic Interface ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Heavy Duty ◽  
Interaction Forces ◽  
Impedance Model ◽  
Hydraulic Machines ◽  
Human Operators

An excavator simulator has been developed to facilitate the training of human operators and to evaluate control strategies for heavy-duty hydraulic machines. The operator controls a virtual excavator by means of a joystick while experiencing visual and force feedback generated by environment and machine models. The simulator comprises an impedance model of the excavator arm, a model for the bucket-ground interaction forces, a graphically rendered visual environment, and a haptic interface. This paper describes the simulator components and their integration.

scholarly journals Interaction between static visual cues and force-feedback on the perception of mass of virtual objects

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenyan Bi ◽  
Jonathan Newport ◽  
Bei Xiao
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
Virtual Objects ◽  
Movement Trajectories ◽  
Weight Illusion

ABSTRACTWe use force-feedback device and a game engine to measure the effects of material appearance on the perception of mass of virtual objects. We discover that the perceived mass is mainly determined by the ground-truth mass output by the force-feedback device. Different from the classic Material Weight Illusion (MWI), however, heavy-looking objects (e.g. steel) are consistently rated heavier than light-looking ones (e.g. fabric) with the same ground-truth mass. Analysis of the initial accelerated velocity of the movement trajectories of the virtual probe shows greater acceleration for materials with heavier rated mass. This effect is diminished when the participants lift the object for the second time, meaning that the influence of visual appearance disappears in the movement trajectories once it is calibrated by the force-feedback. We also show how the material categories are affected by both the visual appearance and the weight of the object. We conclude that visual appearance has a significant interaction with haptic force-feedback on the perception of mass and also affects the kinematics of how participants manipulate the object.CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI; Empirical studies in interaction design; Empirical studies in visualization;ACM Reference FormatWenyan Bi, Jonathan Newport, and Bei Xiao. 2018. Interaction between static visual cues and force-feedback on the perception of mass of virtual objects. In Proceedings of. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 5 pages.

scholarly journals A Cable-Driven Three-DOF Wrist Rehabilitation Exoskeleton With Improved Performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke Shi ◽  
Aiguo Song ◽  
Ye Li ◽  
Huijun Li ◽  
Dapeng Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Force Feedback ◽  
Dc Motor ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Compensation Mechanism ◽  
Training Algorithm ◽  
Cable Tension ◽  
Rehabilitation Training ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Three Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Passive Training

This paper developed a cable-driven three-degree-of-freedom (DOF) wrist rehabilitation exoskeleton actuated by the distributed active semi-active (DASA) system. Compared with the conventional cable-driven robots, the workspace of this robot is increased greatly by adding the rotating compensation mechanism and by optimizing the distribution of the cable attachment points. In the meanwhile, the efficiency of the cable tension is improved, and the parasitic force (the force acting on the joint along the limb) is reduced. Besides, in order to reduce the effects of compliant elements (e.g., cables or Bowden cables) between the actuators and output, and to improve the force bandwidth, we designed the DASA system composed of one geared DC motor and four magnetorheological (MR) clutches, which has low output inertia. A fast unbinding strategy is presented to ensure safety in abnormal conditions. A passive training algorithm and an assist-as-needed (AAN) algorithm were implemented to control the exoskeleton. Several experiments were conducted on both healthy and impaired subjects to test the performance and effectiveness of the proposed system for rehabilitation. The results show that the system can meet the needs of rehabilitation training for workspace and force-feedback, and provide efficient active and passive training.

scholarly journals Manual Skill Generalization Enhanced by Negative Viscosity

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 2008-2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix C. Huang ◽  
James L. Patton ◽  
Ferdinando A. Mussa-Ivaldi
Keyword(s):  
Force Feedback ◽  
Human Machine Interaction ◽  
Combined Training ◽  
Manual Skill ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Negative Viscosity ◽  
Exploratory Movements ◽  
Enhanced Learning ◽  
Machine Interaction ◽  
Shed Light

Recent human-machine interaction studies have suggested that movement augmented with negative viscosity can enhance performance and can even promote better motor learning. To test this, we investigated how negative viscosity influences motor adaptation to an environment where forces acted only in one axis of motion. Using a force-feedback device, subjects performed free exploratory movements with a purely inertia generating forces proportional to hand acceleration, negative viscosity generating destabilizing forces proportional to hand velocity, or a combination of the acceleration and velocity fields. After training, we evaluated each subject's ability to perform circular movements in only the inertial field. Combined training resulted in lowest error and revealed similar responses as inertia training in catch trials. These findings are remarkable because negative viscosity, available only during training, evidently enhanced learning when combined with inertia. This success in generalization is consistent with the ability of the nervous system to decompose the perturbing forces into velocity and acceleration dependent components. Compared with inertia, the combined group exhibited a broader range of speeds along the direction of maximal perturbing force. Broader exploration was also correlated with better performance in subsequent evaluation trials; this suggests that negative viscosity improved performance by enhancing identification of each force field. These findings shed light on a new way to enhance sensorimotor adaptation through robot-applied augmentation of mechanics.

Virtual Reality

2010 ◽  
pp. 252-283
Author(s):  
Ghada Al-Hudhud
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Engineering Application ◽  
Robot Vision ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Object Appearance ◽  
Real Robot ◽  
Human Operators ◽  
Interactive 3D

The chapter introduces a modern and advanced view and implementations of Virtual reality systems. Considering the VR systems as tools that can be used in order to alter the perceived information from real world and allow perceiving the information from virtual world. Virtual Reality grounds the main concepts for interactive 3D simulations. The chapter emphasizes the use of the 3D interactive simulations through virtual reality systems in order to enable designers to operationalize the theoretical concepts for empirical studies. This emphasize takes the form of presenting most recent case studies for employing the VR systems. The first emphasizes the role of realistic 3D simulation in a virtual world for the purpose of pipelining complex systems production for engineering application. This requires highly realistic simulations, which involves both realism of object appearance and object behaviour in the virtual world. The second case emphasizes the evolution from realism of virtual reality towards additional reality. Coupling interactions between virtual and real worlds is an example of using the VR system to allow human operators to interactively communicate with real robot through a VR system. The robots and the human operators are potentially at different physical places. This allows for 3D-stereoscopic robot vision to be transmitted to any or all of the users and operators at the different sites.

scholarly journals Haptic Stylus and Empirical Studies on Braille, Button, and Texture Display

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ki-Uk Kyung ◽  
Jun-Young Lee ◽  
Junseok Park
Keyword(s):  
Force Feedback ◽  
Haptic Feedback ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Tactile Feedback ◽  
Tactile Display ◽  
Groove Width ◽  
Haptic Interface ◽  
Display Module ◽  
Feedback Display ◽  
Tactile Sensations

This paper presents a haptic stylus interface with a built-in compact tactile display module and an impact module as well as empirical studies on Braille, button, and texture display. We describe preliminary evaluations verifying the tactile display's performance indicating that it can satisfactorily represent Braille numbers for both the normal and the blind. In order to prove haptic feedback capability of the stylus, an experiment providing impact feedback mimicking the click of a button has been conducted. Since the developed device is small enough to be attached to a force feedback device, its applicability to combined force and tactile feedback display in a pen-held haptic device is also investigated. The handle of pen-held haptic interface was replaced by the pen-like interface to add tactile feedback capability to the device. Since the system provides combination of force, tactile and impact feedback, three haptic representation methods for texture display have been compared on surface with 3 texture groups which differ in direction, groove width, and shape. In addition, we evaluate its capacity to support touch screen operations by providing tactile sensations when a user rubs against an image displayed on a monitor.

scholarly journals A modular bilateral haptic control framework for teleoperation of robots

Robotica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeki Y. Bayraktaroglu ◽  
Omer F. Argin ◽  
Sinan Haliyo
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Bilateral Control ◽  
Software Environment ◽  
Control Loops ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Control Schemes ◽  
Remote Environment ◽  
Human Operators ◽  
Haptic Control

SUMMARYThis paper presents a novel approach to implement bilateral control loops between local haptic devices and remote industrial manipulators using a layer of simulation and virtual reality. The remote scene of manipulation has been visualized in an open-source software environment, where forward and inverse kinematics of the manipulators can be computed. Therefore, the explicit knowledge of mathematical models of the robots is not required for the implementation of the proposed bilateral control schemes. A haptic coupling has been designed between the human operator and the task in the remote environment. Virtually introduced force feedback has contributed to the performance of the proposed bilateral loop by facilitating the adaptation of unexperienced human operators. Teleoperation of one remote manipulator has been experimentally demonstrated with the proposed controllers. Structural modularity of the bilateral haptic control schemes makes them directly extendable for the teleoperation of multiple collaborative robots. Stability and transparency of the proposed bilateral haptic controllers have been theoretically and experimentally investigated.

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