Technology for upper-limb prostheses is rapidly advancing, to the point where multi-articulated myoelectic prosthetic arms capable of complex movement are commercially available. However, these devices still lack the touch feedback needed for dexterous manipulation. We aim to address this concern by developing non-invasive technology to replace missing touch sensations in prosthetic limbs via sensory substitution. Most current sensory substitution devices function as modular add-on devices, separate from the prosthesis.
Supported by NIH Award R01NS081854 under the National Robotics Initiative (NRI)
Video: https://youtu.be/eMZWX7vnFE4
Researchers aim for 'direct brain control' of prosthetic arms
Engineers work to design prosthetic arm that allows amputees to feel what they touch
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Engineering researchers at four U.S. universities are embarking on a four-year project to design a prosthetic arm that amputees can control directly with their brains and that will allow them to feel what they touch. While it may sound like science fiction, the researchers say much of the technology has already been proven in small-scale demonstrations.
The research at Rice University, the University of Michigan, Drexel University and the University of Maryland is made possible by a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Human-Centered Computing program.
Vibrotactile sleeves and multimodal armbands show promise as devices that can transmit information to a user through the tactile sense. In this way, individuals have the potential to receive information haptically when typical auditory or visual channels are preoccupied or unavailable. To achieve this, individuals must successfully learn the mapping between haptic cues and informational icons through cross-modal associative learning. The success of this process is limited by perceptual capabilities of users, as well as lack of neural markers to quantify the success of haptic learning.
There has been growing interest in using haptic devices to enhance virtual experiences or to increase the amount of information transferred to a user by wearable devices. As such, the haptics community has proposed a wide range of wearable haptic devices, often featuring multi-sensory cues that convey vibration, squeeze, twist, or skin stretch.
Syntacts: Open Source Framework for Audio-Controlled Vibrotactile Haptics
This research project focuses on delivering haptic guidance through cutaneous (skin stretch and squeeze) methods to help train people for new tasks. Haptic devices are tremendously useful for giving customized feedback during training. These devices can simulate forces associated with real-world tasks or provide guidance forces that help users to complete the task more effectively or accurately. It has been shown, however, that providing both task forces and guidance forces simultaneously through the same haptic interface can lead to confusion and worse performance.
Robotic devices are excellent candidates for delivering repetitive and intensive practice that can restore functional use of the upper limbs, even years after a stroke. Rehabilitation of the wrist and hand in particular are critical for recovery of function, since hands are the primary interface with the world. However, robotic devices that focus on hand rehabilitation are limited due to excessive cost, complexity, or limited functionality. A design and control strategy for such devices that bridges this gap is critical.
The objective of this research effort is to develop a rehabilitation robot and associated controllers to be used in both therapy and evaluation of subjects with incomplete spinal-cord injuries. We are working in collaboration with Dr. Gerard Francisco and Dr. Nuray Yozbatiran of TIRR-Memorial Hermann and UTHealth.
Vibrating muscle tendons at a range of frequencies is known to produce movement illusions in human subjects. Although there are examples in the literature on the use of vibrators to transmit simple cues such as direction information, movement illusions due to vibration have not been utilized as a method of providing illusory kinesthetic feedback. One possible main application is artificial proprioception for prosthetic devices.