A Miniature Vibrotactile Sensory Substitution Device for Multifingered Hand Prosthetics

Cipriani, Christian; D’Alonzo, Marco; Carrozza, Maria Chiara

doi:10.1109/tbme.2011.2173342

Cited by 141 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The miniature vibration motors (Precision Microdrives, UK; 6 mm diameter, 12 mm length cylinders) were driven by a custom microcontroller board in order to vibrate at a frequency of 150 Hz with a peak-to-peak force amplitude of about 0.32 N (Cipriani et al 2012). The microcontroller board was able to control the duration of the vibration by receiving commands from the host PC over a serial bus.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans can integrate feedback of discrete events in their sensorimotor control of a robotic hand

et al. 2014

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Providing functionally effective sensory feedback to users of prosthetics is a largely unsolved challenge. Traditional solutions require high band-widths for providing feedback for the control of manipulation and yet have been largely unsuccessful. In this study, we have explored a strategy that relies on temporally discrete sensory feedback that is technically simple to provide. According to the Discrete Event-driven Sensory feedback Control (DESC) policy, motor tasks in humans are organized in phases delimited by means of sensory encoded discrete mechanical events. To explore the applicability of DESC for control, we designed a paradigm in which healthy humans operated an artificial robot hand to lift and replace an instrumented object, a task that can readily be learned and mastered under visual control. Assuming that the central nervous system of humans naturally organizes motor tasks based on a strategy akin to DESC, we delivered short-lasting vibrotactile feedback related to events that are known to forcefully affect progression of the grasplift-and-hold task. After training, we determined whether the artificial feedback had been integrated with the sensorimotor control by introducing short delays and we indeed observed that Correspondence to: Christian Cipriani, ch.cipriani@sssup.it. Jacob L. Segil and Francesco Clemente have contributed equally to this work.Conflict of interest CC hold shares in Prensilia S.R.L., the company that manufactures robotic hands as the one used in this work, under the license to Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. U.S. Department of Veterans AffairsPublic Access Author manuscript Exp Brain Res. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 December 01. VA Author ManuscriptVA Author Manuscript VA Author Manuscript the participants significantly delayed subsequent phases of the task. This study thus gives support to the DESC policy hypothesis. Moreover, it demonstrates that humans can integrate temporally discrete sensory feedback while controlling an artificial hand and invites further studies in which inexpensive, noninvasive technology could be used in clever ways to provide physiologically appropriate sensory feedback in upper limb prosthetics with much lower band-width requirements than with traditional solutions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans can integrate feedback of discrete events in their sensorimotor control of a robotic hand

et al. 2014

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“…The motor has a single input that allows simultaneous scaling of the frequency and intensity of vibration (coupled parameters) proportionally to the detected grasping force. A combination of coin-type motors in a single housing can be used to generate more complex vibration patterns at the expense of the increased size of the interface [19]. The C2 tactor is a more sophisticated stimulator, which permits somewhat independent control of the vibration frequency and amplitude, however, with strong resonant effects [20], [21].…”

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confidence: 99%

Multichannel Electrotactile Feedback With Spatial and Mixed Coding for Closed-Loop Control of Grasping Force in Hand Prostheses

Došen

Marković

Štrbac

et al. 2017

IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng.

107

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Abstract-Providing somatosensory feedback to the user of a myoelectric prosthesis is an important goal since it can improve the utility as well as facilitate the embodiment of the assistive system. Most often, the grasping force was selected as the feedback variable and communicated through one or more individual single channel stimulation units (e.g., electrodes, vibration motors). In the present study, an integrated, compact, multichannel solution comprising an array electrode and a programmable stimulator was presented. Two coding schemes (15 levels), spatial and mixed (spatial and frequency) modulation, were tested in able-bodied subjects, psychometrically and in force control with routine grasping and force tracking using real and simulated prosthesis. The results demonstrated that mixed and spatial coding, although substantially different in psychometric tests, resulted in a similar performance during both force control tasks. Furthermore, the ideal, visual feedback was not better than the tactile feedback in routine grasping. To explain the observed results, a conceptual model was proposed emphasizing that the performance depends on multiple factors, including feedback uncertainty, nature of the task and the reliability of the feedforward control. The study outcomes, specific conclusions and the general model, are relevant for the design of closed-loop myoelectric prostheses utilizing tactile feedback.

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“…These include sensory substitution with cutaneous electrical stimulation [63], vibration on the skin surface [65][66][67][68], skin stretch [69,70] and tendon vibration [71,72] for proprioception, and targeted sensory reinnervation [12,73,74]. In laboratory settings, these have been successful, but none have been sufficiently robust or effective in everyday use for widespread adoption in commercially available prosthetics.…”

Section: Neural Interfaces Are Needed To Restore Somatosensationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural interfaces for somatosensory feedback

Tyler

2015

Current Opinion in Neurology

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Purpose of review-When an individual loses a limb, he/she loses touch with the world and with the people around him/her. Somatosensation is critical to the feeling of connection and control of one's own body. Decades of attempts to replace lost somatosensation by sensory substitutions have been ineffective outside of the laboratory. This review discusses important recent results demonstrating chronic somatosensory restoration through direct peripheral nerve stimulation.Recent findings-Stimulation of peripheral nerves results in somatosensory perception on the phantom limb. Sensations are localized to several independent and functionally relevant locations, such as the fingertips, thenar eminence, ulnar border and dorsal surface. Patterns in stimulation intensity change the perception experience by the user, opening new dimensions on neuromodulation.Summary-Neural interfaces with sophisticated stimulation paradigms create a user's perception of his/her hand to touch and manipulate objects. The pattern of intensity and frequency of stimulation is critical to the quality and intensity of perceived sensation. Restoring feeling has allowed the individuals to, 'feel [my] hand for the first time since the accident,' and 'feel [my] wife touch my hand'. Individuals using a prosthetic hand with sensation can pull cherries and grapes from the stem, open water bottles and move objects without destroying these objects -all while audio and visually deprived. After regaining sensation, phantom pain is eliminated in individuals that had frequent, sometimes debilitating, pain following limb loss. With over 5 subject-years of experience, this work is leading the evolution of a new era in prostheses. Somatosensory prosthetics as a standard procedure to augment and restore somatosensation are now within our reach.

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A Miniature Vibrotactile Sensory Substitution Device for Multifingered Hand Prosthetics

Cited by 141 publications

References 30 publications

Humans can integrate feedback of discrete events in their sensorimotor control of a robotic hand

Humans can integrate feedback of discrete events in their sensorimotor control of a robotic hand

Multichannel Electrotactile Feedback With Spatial and Mixed Coding for Closed-Loop Control of Grasping Force in Hand Prostheses

Neural interfaces for somatosensory feedback

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