Principles of human movement augmentation and the challenges in making it a reality (original) (raw)
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Human movement augmentation and how to make it a reality
ArXiv, 2021
Augmenting the body with artificial limbs controlled concurrently to the natural limbs has long appeared in science fiction, but recent technological and neuroscientific advances have begun to make this vision possible. By allowing individuals to achieve otherwise impossible actions, this movement augmentation could revolutionize medical and industrial applications and profoundly change the way humans interact with their environment. Here, we construct a movement augmentation taxonomy through what is augmented and how it is achieved. With this framework, we analyze augmentation that extends the number of degrees-of-freedom, discuss critical features of effective augmentation such as physiological control signals, sensory feedback and learning, and propose a vision
Enhancing human bodies with extra robotic arms and fingers: The Neural Resource Allocation Problem
ArXiv, 2021
The emergence of robot-based body augmentation promises exciting innovations that will inform robotics, human-machine interaction, and wearable electronics. Even though augmentative devices like extra robotic arms and fingers in many ways build on restorative technologies, they introduce unique challenges for bidirectional human-machine collaboration. Can humans adapt and learn to operate a new limb collaboratively with their biological limbs without sacrificing their physical abilities? To successfully achieve robotic body augmentation, we need to ensure that by giving a person an additional (artificial) limb, we are not in fact trading off an existing (biological) one. In this manuscript, we introduce the “Neural Resource Allocation” problem, which distinguishes body augmentation from existing robotics paradigms such as teleoperation and prosthetics. We discuss how to allow the effective and effortless voluntary control of augmentative devices without compromising the voluntary co...
Frontiers in Neurorobotics
Research in wearables for rehabilitation, assistance, and augmentation have generally focused solely on 4 motor or sensory (in particular haptic) aspects. Considering the combined sensorimotor aspects of such 5 wearables can create new research directions, and stands to improve the function seen in state of the art 6 devices. In this topic, authors contributed works along three broad themes: design, control, and assessment. 7 With the design theme of the topic, a major motivation and emphasis was placed by Varghese, et al. and 8 Alvarado, et al. on the importance of managing the pressures at the interface between the wearer and the 9 robot, or the combined wearer-robot system and the environment in order to achieve high performance 10 goals. The other papers in this group focused on the challenging design requirements in prosthetic hands, 11 proposing designs to incorporate human-like capabilities or distribute the control strategies into passive or 12 mechanically-intelligent structures. Gao, et al. presented a differential mechanism to accommodate the 13 high degrees of freedom of the hands with a reduced set of actuators. Hocaoglu and Patoglu focused on 14 recreating the variable stiffness capabilities of human hands with a novel mechanism. Lastly, Weiner, et 15 al. developed a prosthetic hand capable of semi-autonomous grasping, relying on a multi-modal sensor 16 network combined with adaptive underactuated mechanisms. 17 Several papers within the topic coalesced around a theme of control and intent detection to support 18 wearable robotic implementations. Gantenbien, et al. presented a review of intent detection strategies for 19 upper limb orthoses. Hocaoglu and Patoglu presented an sEMG-based control strategy to leverage the 20 performance of the variable stiffness actuator introduced in a previous paper in the topic. Instead of seeking 21 to recreate the human impedances, Kumar, et al. proposed an admittance controller to enable human-like 22 gait on arbitrary slopes. Also aiming to improve the control of lower limb prosthetics, Hong et al. presented 23 the connections between torso kinematics and gait phase estimation. Lastly, with a focus on rehabiliation 24 1 Rose et al. Editorial on Wearable Robots and Sensorimotor Interfaces instead of augmentation or prosthetics, Topini, et al. proposed an admittance controller for use in VR 25 training environments, and examined its performance in a single subject pilot. 26 Several manuscripts focused on a third theme, that of assessment of the combined human-robot system. 27 Dissanayake, et al. investigated the fatigue in upper limb motions via changes detectable via EEG. Lastly, 28 Patrick, et al. and Patrick, Kumar, and Hur examined the biomechanical implications of the orthotic and 29 prosthetic kinematic structure, respectively, on the kinematics and kinetics of gait. 30 Taken together, the works in this research topic underscore the far ranging applications of considering 31 sensorimotor aspects in wearable robotics, ranging from the design of human-robot interfaces to EEG 32 assessments. These new designs and results are another step towards achieving the potential of wearables, 33 but there are still many open questions and unknowns in this highly interdisciplinary field, which will 34 require further investigation and collaboration. 35 A fundamental limitation in the current research model is the difficulty at achieving long duration studies 36 with large population sizes. In some areas, this may be overcome via commercialization, but in others, the 37 field may need to rely on large studies on standardized equipment, such as open-source designs, such as 38 the Open Source Leg Azocar et al. (2020), which can be a starting point towards accumulating the 'big 39 data' which drives much innovation in robotics and machine learning. 40 To make the next generation of devices, controllers, and interfaces, assessment and inclusion of end 41 users in the initial design and validation process, such as the usability and evaluation from authors such as 42 Gantenbien, et al. are the first steps in this direction. Next steps may look like the creation of standardized 43 performance metrics and methods, such as those proposed for prosthetics Light et al. (2002) for orthoses, 44 or open-source designs for wearer surrogates such as mannikins to complement standard object sets Calli 45 et al. (2015). Additional efforts aimed at enabling end users to be not only the assessors, but the designers, 46 can further democratize and accelerate the design process. 47 While kinematic and kinetic assessments have been well established, with advances presented in this 48 topic, the field can also benefit from additional investigation into the connections between sensory and 49 motor function, such as Lowrey et al. Lowrey et al. (2020). Future work could further tease out the 50 interconnections between motor and sensory function, identifying new design guidelines, control strategies, 51 and assessment methods for all the wearable devices including the one newly proposed and known as 52 supernumerary robotics limbs Hussain and Prattichizzo (2020).
Human augmentation: Past, present and future
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 2019
Human augmentation is a field of research that aims to enhance human abilities through medicine or technology. This has historically been achieved by consuming chemical substances that improve a selected ability or by installing implants which require medical operations. Both of these methods of augmentation can be invasive. Augmented abilities have also been achieved with external tools, such as eyeglasses, binoculars, microscopes or highly sensitive microphones. Lately, augmented reality and multimodal interaction technologies have enabled non-invasive ways to augment human. In this article, we first discuss the field and related terms. We provide relevant definitions based on the present understanding of the field. This is followed by a summary of existing work in augmented senses, action, and cognition. Our contribution to the future includes a model for wearable augmentation. In addition, we present a call for research to realize this vision. Then, we discuss future human abilities. Wearable technologies may act as mediators for human augmentation, in the same manner as eyeglasses once revolutionized human vision. Non-invasive and easy-to-use wearable extensions will enable lengthening the active life for aging citizens or supporting the full inclusion of people with special needs in society, but there are also potential problems. Therefore, we conclude by discussing ethical and societal issues: privacy, social manipulation, autonomy and side effects, accessibility, safety and balance, and unpredictable future.
GeniePutt: Augmenting human motor skills through electrical muscle stimulation
2021
Motor skills are omnipresent in our daily lives. Humans seek to learn new skills or improve existing ones. In this work, we explore how the actuation of the human body can be used to augment motor skills. We present GeniePutt, which augments the human performance via electrical muscle stimulation (EMS). We conducted a user study in which we controlled the turning angle of the wrist through GeniePutt to increase participants’ accuracy in a mini-golf scenario. Our results indicate that the best accuracy can be achieved when human capabilities are combined with augmentation performed through EMS.
An Integrative Introduction to Human Augmentation Science
Human Augmentation (HA) spans several technical fields and methodological approaches, including Experimental Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychophysiology, and Artificial Intelligence. Augmentation involves various strategies for optimizing and controlling cognitive states, which requires an understanding of biological plasticity, dynamic cognitive processes, and models of adaptive systems. As an instructive lesson, we will explore a few HA related concepts and outstanding issues. Next, we focus on inducing and controlling HA using experimental methods by introducing three techniques for HA implementation: learning augmentation, augmentation using physical media, and extended phenotype modeling. To conclude, we will review integrative approaches to augmentation, which transcend specific functions.
The handbook of brain theory and neural networks,, 2002
The control of arm and hand movements in human and nonhuman primates has fascinated researchers in psychology, neuroscience, robotics, and numerous related areas. Movement appears effortless to the uninitiated observer���only when trying to duplicate such skills with artificial systems or when examining the underlying neural substrate, one discovers a surprising complexity that, so far, has prevented us from understanding the biological implementation, how to repair neural damage, and how to create human-like robots with a ...
Performance Enhancing Mechanisms for Human Manipulation
2009
The goal of this dissertation project was to develop and evaluate three novel mechanisms for assisting people in moving the upper extremity for three functionally important tasks. The objective of the first mechanism was to improve steering of an automobile. This task is commonly affected in old age, but there currently exist few devices to assist in driving. We developed a novel passive, moving arm rest that can provide support to the arms when the hands are in the recommended grip positions behind a vehicle’s steering wheel. We provide experimental evidence that this simple gravity balancing mechanism can improve human performance and ergonomics in steering a car. The second mechanism aimed at assisting movement exercise of the forearm and wrist, an important task for rehabilitation after stroke. Existing mechanisms are cumbersome and expensive or achieve lighter weight by using a reduced number of degrees-of-freedom. A novel parallel mechanism was designed that is capable of moving a person’s wrist along most of its natural workspace. The design of the device was inspired by the kinematics of the bones in the human forearm itself. The prototype device was used in preliminary experiments for a novel movement training application with the Nintendo Wii. The objective of the third mechanism was to assist in naturalistic movement exercise of the human arm, again an important task for rehabilitation after stroke. Existing arm exoskeletons suffer from limited backdriveability, high weight, reduced number of degrees-of-freedom and/or limited force generation capability. The novel parallel mechanism developed here is a modified version of the wrist/forearm mechanism. The device incorporates lightweight, high-force, mechanically grounded pneumatic actuators, along with a spring-based counterbalancing system to balance the weight of the robot. The resulting exoskeleton can apply substantial forces to the human arm across a wide range of joint movement, while remaining lightweight, matching or exceeding capabilities of existing arm exoskeletons. The orthosis was used in an experiment with unimpaired subjects to test the hypothesis that practicing integrated, multi-joint movement will improve naturalistic movement ability more than practicing a matched amount of the isolated components of the integrated movement.