scholarly journals Spatial and Temporal Influences on Discrimination of Vibrotactile Stimuli on The Arm

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valay A Shah ◽  
Maura Casadio ◽  
Robert A Scheidt ◽  
Leigh Mrotek

Body-machine interfaces (BMIs) provide a non-invasive way to use and control external devices such as powered wheelchairs. Vibrotactile stimulation has been proposed as a way for BMIs to provide device performance feedback to the user, thereby reducing visual demands of closed-loop control. To advance the goal of developing a compact, multivariate vibrotactile display for BMIs, we performed two 2-alternative, forced choice experiments to determine the extent to which vibrotactile perception might vary across multiple stimulation sites. The first experiment assessed vibrotactile discrimination of sequentially presented stimuli within each of four dermatomes of the arm (C5, C7, C8, T1) and on the ulnar head. The second compared discrimination when pairs of vibrotactile stimuli were presented simultaneously vs. sequentially both within and across dermatomes. Although the first experiment found small but statistically significant differences across dermatomes C7 and T1, discrimination thresholds at the other three locations did not differ one from another or from those at either C7 or T1. These results suggest that stimuli applied to each of the sites may be able to convey approximately the same amount of information. The second experiment found that sequential delivery of vibrotactile stimuli resulted in better discrimination than simultaneous delivery, independent of whether the pairs were located within the same dermatome or across dermatomes. Taken together, our results suggest that the arm may be a viable site to transfer multivariate information via vibrotactile feedback for body-machine interfaces. However, user training may be needed to overcome the perceptual disadvantage of simultaneous vs. sequentially-presented stimuli.

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (23) ◽  
pp. 5209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Gonzalez-Rodriguez ◽  
Jose L. Ramon ◽  
Vicente Morell ◽  
Gabriel J. Garcia ◽  
Jorge Pomares ◽  
...  

The main goal of this study is to evaluate how to optimally select the best vibrotactile pattern to be used in a closed loop control of upper limb myoelectric prostheses as a feedback of the exerted force. To that end, we assessed both the selection of actuation patterns and the effects of the selection of frequency and amplitude parameters to discriminate between different feedback levels. A single vibrotactile actuator has been used to deliver the vibrations to subjects participating in the experiments. The results show no difference between pattern shapes in terms of feedback perception. Similarly, changes in amplitude level do not reflect significant improvement compared to changes in frequency. However, decreasing the number of feedback levels increases the accuracy of feedback perception and subject-specific variations are high for particular participants, showing that a fine-tuning of the parameters is necessary in a real-time application to upper limb prosthetics. In future works, the effects of training, location, and number of actuators will be assessed. This optimized selection will be tested in a real-time proportional myocontrol of a prosthetic hand.


2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gaida ◽  
Christian Wolf ◽  
Robin Eccleston ◽  
Michael Bongards

AbstractClosed-loop control of the substrate feed as well as the application of online instrumentation are important to achieve optimal biogas plant operation. Therefore, this paper presents two novel approaches for online instrumentation and control to achieve optimal AD plant operation based on middle-infrared spectroscopy on the one hand and nonlinear model predictive control on the other hand. At present, research into both techniques is being performed separately, with the intention that in the future the spectroscopic measurements will be integrated into the control loop.


Micromachines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanru Zhao ◽  
Xiaojie Huang ◽  
Yong Liu ◽  
Geng Wang ◽  
Kunpeng Hong

A piezoelectric-driven microgripper with three-stage amplification was designed, which is able to perceive the tip displacement and gripping force. The key structure parameters of the microgripper were determined by finite element optimization and its theoretical amplification ratio was derived. The tracking experiments of the tip displacement and gripping force were conducted with a PID controller. It is shown that the standard deviation of tracking error of the tip displacement is less than 0.2 μm and the gripping force is 0.35 mN under a closed-loop control. It would provide some references for realizing high-precision microassembly tasks with the designed microgripper which can control the displacement and gripping force accurately.


Author(s):  
William J. Emblom

Methods for improving the robustness of panel forming including the introduction of process sensing and feedback and control has resulted in significant gains in the quality of parts and reduced failures. Initial efforts in implementing closed-loop control during panel forming used active tool elements to ensure that the total punch force followed prescribed trajectories. However, more recently local forces within the tooling have been demonstrated to not only follow desired force trajectories but have been shown to increase the operational envelope of the tooling compared to open-loop tests and even closed-loop test where the total punch force had been controlled. However, what has not been examined is the effect of local force, especially during closed-loop control panel forming operations on the total punch force measured during forming. This paper addresses this by comparing the results of both open-loop tests and closed-loop tests and examining the effects on both local and total punch forces. It was found that while open-loop forming with various constant draw bead depths resulted in varying total punch forces, once closed-loop control was implemented the total punch forces followed virtually identical trajectories. The tooling for this project included local force transducers and a total punch force transducer. In addition, active draw beads could be controlled during forming and a flexible blank holder with variable blank holder forces were part of the setup.


Author(s):  
Christine Beauchene ◽  
Alexander Leonessa ◽  
Subhradeep Roy ◽  
James Simon ◽  
Nicole Abaid

The brain is a highly complex network and analyzing brain connectivity is a nontrivial task. Consequently, the neuroscience community created a large-scale, customizable, mathematical model which simulates brain activity called The Virtual Brain (TVB). Using TVB, we seek to control electroencephalography (EEG) measured brain states using auditory inputs, through TVB. A safe non-invasive brain stimulation method is binaural beats (BB) which arise from the brain’s interpretation of two pure tones, with a small frequency mismatch, delivered independently to each ear. A third phantom BB, whose frequency is equal to the difference of the two presented tones, is produced. This paper details the development and proof-of-concept testing of a simulation environment for an EEG-based closed-loop control of TVB using BB. Results suggest that the connectivity networks, constructed from simulated EEG, may change with certain BB stimulation frequency. In this work, we demonstrate that a linear controller can successfully modulate TVB connectivity.


2010 ◽  
Vol 139-141 ◽  
pp. 1852-1855
Author(s):  
Cheng Xue ◽  
Yu Shi ◽  
Ding Fan ◽  
Hao Zhong ◽  
Ming Xiao Shi

Dual-bypass MIG welding (DB-GMAW) is a new kind of high speed MIG welding with three arcs. In order to monitor the weld process and control it, a high speed weld system of DB-GMAW was built. The system was run by LabVIEW programs, including getting data of system and control output signals. The test result of system showed that all equipments could be used in the same time. Beside images of weld pool and arc, the weld voltages and currents of every part had been acquired. The signals of bypass current and weld speed also had been input TIG welding sources and worktable motor successfully. Meanwhile, the high speed weld formation had a good quality, and all of these established the closed-loop control of high speed DB-GMAW.


Author(s):  
M Hockenhull

The application of electrical flight control systems to civil transport aircraft has directed attention to the need for improved airworthiness regulation. In this paper, the scope and interpretation of a new FAR/JAR Part 25 regulation in preparation is discussed, applicable to aircraft that have closed-loop control systems for flight control, load alleviation or stability augmentation, and have the potential to interact with the aircraft's structural dynamics.


Author(s):  
William J. Emblom ◽  
Klaus J. Weinmann ◽  
John E. Beard

An experimental evaluation of the strains in an oval stamp forming die is presented. The die design included a flexible blank holder and active draw beads. The die was instrumented with local punch force and wrinkle sensors and control systems were developed in order to follow local punch force and wrinkle trajectories. Strains were measured after pan forming for both open and closed-loop tests. The relation between blank holder force, draw bead penetration, and strains were explored in the critical strain region of the formed pan. Closed-loop control of the local punch forces at the die ends was established using blank holder forces. The strains for tests with various lubrication conditions and draw bead penetrations were compared. It was observed that there is a tendency for the strains in critical locations to converge or remain constant for the closed-loop control tests while the strains tended to increase with blank holder force for open-loop tests. It was concluded that by controlling local punch forces, strain is indirectly controlled.


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