Tactile-STAR: A Novel Tactile STimulator And Recorder System for Evaluating and Improving Tactile Perception

Many neurological diseases impair the motor and somatosensory systems. While several different technologies are used in clinical practice to assess and improve motor functions, somatosensation is evaluated subjectively with qualitative clinical scales. Treatment of somatosensory deficits has received limited attention. To bridge the gap between the assessment and training of motor vs. somatosensory abilities, we designed, developed, and tested a novel, low-cost, two-component (bimanual) mechatronic system targeting tactile somatosensation: the Tactile-STAR—a tactile stimulator and recorder. The stimulator is an actuated pantograph structure driven by two servomotors, with an end-effector covered by a rubber material that can apply two different types of skin stimulation: brush and stretch. The stimulator has a modular design, and can be used to test the tactile perception in different parts of the body such as the hand, arm, leg, big toe, etc. The recorder is a passive pantograph that can measure hand motion using two potentiometers. The recorder can serve multiple purposes: participants can move its handle to match the direction and amplitude of the tactile stimulator, or they can use it as a master manipulator to control the tactile stimulator as a slave. Our ultimate goal is to assess and affect tactile acuity and somatosensory deficits. To demonstrate the feasibility of our novel system, we tested the Tactile-STAR with 16 healthy individuals and with three stroke survivors using the skin-brush stimulation. We verified that the system enables the mapping of tactile perception on the hand in both populations. We also tested the extent to which 30 min of training in healthy individuals led to an improvement of tactile perception. The results provide a first demonstration of the ability of this new system to characterize tactile perception in healthy individuals, as well as a quantification of the magnitude and pattern of tactile impairment in a small cohort of stroke survivors. The finding that short-term training with Tactile-STARcan improve the acuity of tactile perception in healthy individuals suggests that Tactile-STAR may have utility as a therapeutic intervention for somatosensory deficits

A Mechanical Hand-Tracking System with Tactile Feedback Designed for Telemanipulation

: In this paper, we present a mechanical hand-tracking system with tactile feedback designed for fine manipulation in teleoperation scenarios. Alternative tracking methods based on artificial vision and data gloves have become an asset for virtual reality interaction. Yet, occlusions, lack of precision, and the absence of effective haptic feedback beyond vibrotactile still appear as a limit for teleoperation applications. In this work, we propose a methodology to design a linkage mechanism for hand pose tracking purposes, preserving complete finger mobility. Presentation of the method is followed by design and implementation of a working prototype, and by evaluation of the tracking accuracy using optical markers. Moreover, a teleoperation experiment involving a dexterous robotic arm and hand was proposed to ten participants. It investigated the effectiveness and repeatability of the hand tracking with combined haptic feedback during a proposed pick and place manipulation tasks

인간 기계 상호작용을 위한 강건하고 정확한 손동작 추적 기술 연구

학위논문(박사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 공과대학 기계항공공학부, 2021.8. 이동준.Hand-based interface is promising for realizing intuitive, natural and accurate human machine interaction (HMI), as the human hand is main source of dexterity in our daily activities. For this, the thesis begins with the human perception study on the detection threshold of visuo-proprioceptive conflict (i.e., allowable tracking error) with or without cutantoues haptic feedback, and suggests tracking error specification for realistic and fluidic hand-based HMI. The thesis then proceeds to propose a novel wearable hand tracking module, which, to be compatible with the cutaneous haptic devices spewing magnetic noise, opportunistically employ heterogeneous sensors (IMU/compass module and soft sensor) reflecting the anatomical properties of human hand, which is suitable for specific application (i.e., finger-based interaction with finger-tip haptic devices). This hand tracking module however loses its tracking when interacting with, or being nearby, electrical machines or ferromagnetic materials. For this, the thesis presents its main contribution, a novel visual-inertial skeleton tracking (VIST) framework, that can provide accurate and robust hand (and finger) motion tracking even for many challenging real-world scenarios and environments, for which the state-of-the-art technologies are known to fail due to their respective fundamental limitations (e.g., severe occlusions for tracking purely with vision sensors; electromagnetic interference for tracking purely with IMUs (inertial measurement units) and compasses; and mechanical contacts for tracking purely with soft sensors). The proposed VIST framework comprises a sensor glove with multiple IMUs and passive visual markers as well as a head-mounted stereo camera; and a tightly-coupled filtering-based visual-inertial fusion algorithm to estimate the hand/finger motion and auto-calibrate hand/glove-related kinematic parameters simultaneously while taking into account the hand anatomical constraints. The VIST framework exhibits good tracking accuracy and robustness, affordable material cost, light hardware and software weights, and ruggedness/durability even to permit washing. Quantitative and qualitative experiments are also performed to validate the advantages and properties of our VIST framework, thereby, clearly demonstrating its potential for real-world applications.손 동작을 기반으로 한 인터페이스는 인간-기계 상호작용 분야에서 직관성, 몰입감, 정교함을 제공해줄 수 있어 많은 주목을 받고 있고, 이를 위해 가장 필수적인 기술 중 하나가 손 동작의 강건하고 정확한 추적 기술 이다. 이를 위해 본 학위논문에서는 먼저 사람 인지의 관점에서 손 동작 추적 오차의 인지 범위를 규명한다. 이 오차 인지 범위는 새로운 손 동작 추적 기술 개발 시 중요한 설계 기준이 될 수 있어 이를 피험자 실험을 통해 정량적으로 밝히고, 특히 손끝 촉각 장비가 있을때 이 인지 범위의 변화도 밝힌다. 이를 토대로, 촉각 피드백을 주는 것이 다양한 인간-기계 상호작용 분야에서 널리 연구되어 왔으므로, 먼저 손끝 촉각 장비와 함께 사용할 수 있는 손 동작 추적 모듈을 개발한다. 이 손끝 촉각 장비는 자기장 외란을 일으켜 착용형 기술에서 흔히 사용되는 지자기 센서를 교란하는데, 이를 적절한 사람 손의 해부학적 특성과 관성 센서/지자기 센서/소프트 센서의 적절한 활용을 통해 해결한다. 이를 확장하여 본 논문에서는, 촉각 장비 착용 시 뿐 아니라 모든 장비 착용 / 환경 / 물체와의 상호작용 시에도 사용 가능한 새로운 손 동작 추적 기술을 제안한다. 기존의 손 동작 추적 기술들은 가림 현상 (영상 기반 기술), 지자기 외란 (관성/지자기 센서 기반 기술), 물체와의 접촉 (소프트 센서 기반 기술) 등으로 인해 제한된 환경에서 밖에 사용하지 못한다. 이를 위해 많은 문제를 일으키는 지자기 센서 없이 상보적인 특성을 지니는 관성 센서와 영상 센서를 융합하고, 이때 작은 공간에 다 자유도의 움직임을 갖는 손 동작을 추적하기 위해 다수의 구분되지 않는 마커들을 사용한다. 이 마커의 구분 과정 (correspondence search)를 위해 기존의 약결합 (loosely-coupled) 기반이 아닌 강결합 (tightly-coupled 기반 센서 융합 기술을 제안하고, 이를 통해 지자기 센서 없이 정확한 손 동작이 가능할 뿐 아니라 착용형 센서들의 정확성/편의성에 문제를 일으키던 센서 부착 오차 / 사용자의 손 모양 등을 자동으로 정확히 보정한다. 이 제안된 영상-관성 센서 융합 기술 (Visual-Inertial Skeleton Tracking (VIST)) 의 뛰어난 성능과 강건성이 다양한 정량/정성 실험을 통해 검증되었고, 이는 VIST의 다양한 일상환경에서 기존 시스템이 구현하지 못하던 손 동작 추적을 가능케 함으로써, 많은 인간-기계 상호작용 분야에서의 가능성을 보여준다.1 Introduction 1 1.1. Motivation 1 1.2. Related Work 5 1.3. Contribution 12 2 Detection Threshold of Hand Tracking Error 16 2.1. Motivation 16 2.2. Experimental Environment 20 2.2.1. Hardware Setup 21 2.2.2. Virtual Environment Rendering 23 2.2.3. HMD Calibration 23 2.3. Identifying the Detection Threshold of Tracking Error 26 2.3.1. Experimental Setup 27 2.3.2. Procedure 27 2.3.3. Experimental Result 31 2.4. Enlarging the Detection Threshold of Tracking Error by Haptic Feedback 31 2.4.1. Experimental Setup 31 2.4.2. Procedure 32 2.4.3. Experimental Result 34 2.5. Discussion 34 3 Wearable Finger Tracking Module for Haptic Interaction 38 3.1. Motivation 38 3.2. Development of Finger Tracking Module 42 3.2.1. Hardware Setup 42 3.2.2. Tracking algorithm 45 3.2.3. Calibration method 48 3.3. Evaluation for VR Haptic Interaction Task 50 3.3.1. Quantitative evaluation of FTM 50 3.3.2. Implementation of Wearable Cutaneous Haptic Interface 51 3.3.3. Usability evaluation for VR peg-in-hole task 53 3.4. Discussion 57 4 Visual-Inertial Skeleton Tracking for Human Hand 59 4.1. Motivation 59 4.2. Hardware Setup and Hand Models 62 4.2.1. Human Hand Model 62 4.2.2. Wearable Sensor Glove 62 4.2.3. Stereo Camera 66 4.3. Visual Information Extraction 66 4.3.1. Marker Detection in Raw Images 68 4.3.2. Cost Function for Point Matching 68 4.3.3. Left-Right Stereo Matching 69 4.4. IMU-Aided Correspondence Search 72 4.5. Filtering-based Visual-Inertial Sensor Fusion 76 4.5.1. EKF States for Hand Tracking and Auto-Calibration 78 4.5.2. Prediction with IMU Information 79 4.5.3. Correction with Visual Information 82 4.5.4. Correction with Anatomical Constraints 84 4.6. Quantitative Evaluation for Free Hand Motion 87 4.6.1. Experimental Setup 87 4.6.2. Procedure 88 4.6.3. Experimental Result 90 4.7. Quantitative and Comparative Evaluation for Challenging Hand Motion 95 4.7.1. Experimental Setup 95 4.7.2. Procedure 96 4.7.3. Experimental Result 98 4.7.4. Performance Comparison with Existing Methods for Challenging Hand Motion 101 4.8. Qualitative Evaluation for Real-World Scenarios 105 4.8.1. Visually Complex Background 105 4.8.2. Object Interaction 106 4.8.3. Wearing Fingertip Cutaneous Haptic Devices 109 4.8.4. Outdoor Environment 111 4.9. Discussion 112 5 Conclusion 116 References 124 Abstract (in Korean) 139 Acknowledgment 141박

Tactile-STAR: A novel tactile STimulator And Recorder system for evaluating and improving tactile perception

Many neurological diseases impair the motor and somatosensory systems. While several different technologies are used in clinical practice to assess and improve motor functions, somatosensation is evaluated subjectively with qualitative clinical scales. Treatment of somatosensory deficits has received limited attention. To bridge the gap between the assessment and training of motor vs. somatosensory abilities, we designed, developed, and tested a novel, low-cost, two-component (bimanual) mechatronic system targeting tactile somatosensation: the Tactile-STAR\u2014a tactile stimulator and recorder. The stimulator is an actuated pantograph structure driven by two servomotors, with an end-effector covered by a rubber material that can apply two different types of skin stimulation: brush and stretch. The stimulator has a modular design, and can be used to test the tactile perception in different parts of the body such as the hand, arm, leg, big toe, etc. The recorder is a passive pantograph that can measure hand motion using two potentiometers. The recorder can serve multiple purposes: participants can move its handle to match the direction and amplitude of the tactile stimulator, or they can use it as a master manipulator to control the tactile stimulator as a slave. Our ultimate goal is to assess and affect tactile acuity and somatosensory deficits. To demonstrate the feasibility of our novel system, we tested the Tactile-STAR with 16 healthy individuals and with three stroke survivors using the skin-brush stimulation. We verified that the system enables the mapping of tactile perception on the hand in both populations. We also tested the extent to which 30 min of training in healthy individuals led to an improvement of tactile perception. The results provide a first demonstration of the ability of this new system to characterize tactile perception in healthy individuals, as well as a quantification of the magnitude and pattern of tactile impairment in a small cohort of stroke survivors. The finding that short-term training with Tactile-STAR can improve the acuity of tactile perception in healthy individuals suggests that Tactile-STAR may have utility as a therapeutic intervention for somatosensory deficits

Perception of Time-Discrete Haptic Feedback on the Waist is Invariant with Gait Events

The effectiveness of haptic feedback devices highly depends on the perception of tactile stimuli, which differs across body parts and can be affected by movement. In this study, a novel wearable sensory feedback apparatus made of a pair of pressure-sensitive insoles and a belt equipped with vibrotactile units is presented; the device provides time-discrete vibrations around the waist, synchronized with biomechanically-relevant gait events during walking. Experiments with fifteen healthy volunteers were carried out to investigate users' tactile perception on the waist. Stimuli of different intensities were provided at twelve locations, each time synchronously with one pre-defined gait event (i.e. heel strike, flat foot or toe off), following a pseudo-random stimulation sequence. Reaction time, detection rate and localization accuracy were analyzed as functions of the stimulation level and site and the effect of gait events on perception was investigated. Results revealed that above-threshold stimuli (i.e. vibrations characterized by acceleration amplitudes of 1.92g and 2.13g and frequencies of 100 Hz and 150 Hz, respectively) can be effectively perceived in all the sites and successfully localized when the intertactor spacing is set to 10 cm. Moreover, it was found that perception of time-discrete vibrations was not affected by phase-related gating mechanisms, suggesting that the waist could be considered as a preferred body region for delivering haptic feedback during walking

Development of Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

Motor rehabilitation is a long term, labor intensive and patient-specific process that requires one-on-one care from skilled clinicians and physiotherapists. Virtual rehabilitation is an alternative rehabilitation technology that can provide intensive motor training with minimal supervision from physiotherapists. However, virtual rehabilitation exercises lack of realism and less connected with Activities of Daily Livings. In this paper, we present six Virtual Reality games that we developed for 5DT data glove, 1-DOF IntelliStretch robot and Xbox Kinect to improve the accessibility of motor rehabilitation

Haptics: Science, Technology, Applications

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications, EuroHaptics 2020, held in Leiden, The Netherlands, in September 2020. The 60 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 111 submissions. The were organized in topical sections on haptic science, haptic technology, and haptic applications. This year's focus is on accessibility

Haptics: Science, Technology, Applications

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications, EuroHaptics 2020, held in Leiden, The Netherlands, in September 2020. The 60 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 111 submissions. The were organized in topical sections on haptic science, haptic technology, and haptic applications. This year's focus is on accessibility

Enabling wearable soft tactile displays with dielectric elastomer actuators

PhDTouch is one of the less exploited sensory channels in human machine interactions. While the introduction of the tactile feedback would improve the user experience in several fields, such as training for medical operators, teleoperation, computer aided design and 3D model exploration, no interfaces able to mimic accurately and realistically the tactile feeling produced by the contact with a real soft object are currently available. Devices able to simulate the contact with soft bodies, such as the human organs, might improve the experience. The existing commercially available tactile displays consist of complex mechanisms that limit their portability. Moreover, no devices are able to provide tactile stimuli via a soft interface that can also modulate the contact area with the finger pad, which is required to realistically mimic the contact with soft bodies, as needed for example in systems aimed at simulating interactions with virtual biological tissues or in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. The aim of this thesis is to develop such a wearable tactile display based on the dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). DEAs are a class of materials that respond to an electric field producing a deformation. In particular, in this thesis, the tactile element consists of a so-called hydrostatically coupled dielectric elastomer actuator (HC-DEAs). HC-DEAs rely on an incompressible fluid that hydrostatically couples a DEA-based active part to a passive part interfaced to the user. The display was also tested within a closed-loop configuration consisting of a hand tracking system and a custom made virtual environment. This proof of concept system allowed for a validation of the abilities of the display. Mechanical and psychophysical tests were performed in order to assess the ability of the system to provide tactile stimuli that can be distinguished by the users. Also, the miniaturisation of the HC-DEA was investigated for applications in refreshable Braille displays or arrays of tactile elements for tactile maps

Human-Machine Interfaces using Distributed Sensing and Stimulation Systems

As the technology moves towards more natural human-machine interfaces (e.g. bionic limbs, teleoperation, virtual reality), it is necessary to develop a sensory feedback system in order to foster embodiment and achieve better immersion in the control system. Contemporary feedback interfaces presented in research use few sensors and stimulation units to feedback at most two discrete feedback variables (e.g. grasping force and aperture), whereas the human sense of touch relies on a distributed network of mechanoreceptors providing a wide bandwidth of information. To provide this type of feedback, it is necessary to develop a distributed sensing system that could extract a wide range of information during the interaction between the robot and the environment. In addition, a distributed feedback interface is needed to deliver such information to the user. This thesis proposes the development of a distributed sensing system (e-skin) to acquire tactile sensation, a first integration of distributed sensing system on a robotic hand, the development of a sensory feedback system that compromises the distributed sensing system and a distributed stimulation system, and finally the implementation of deep learning methods for the classification of tactile data. It\u2019s core focus addresses the development and testing of a sensory feedback system, based on the latest distributed sensing and stimulation techniques. To this end, the thesis is comprised of two introductory chapters that describe the state of art in the field, the objectives, and the used methodology and contributions; as well as six studies that tackled the development of human-machine interfaces