Evaluation of Individual Finger Forces During Activities of Daily Living In Healthy Individuals and Those with Hand Arthritis

Hand-Osteoarthritis (H-OA) leads to pain, loss of grip strength, and decreased hand function. Current treatment for H-OA involves joint protection programs (JPP) which seek to reduce joint loading during activity. The use of wearable technology to measure hand forces during activity has the potential to determine the effectiveness of JPP. The objective of this thesis was to develop and validate a method of directly measuring finger forces during the performance of activities of daily living, and then use that system to measure the envelope of hand forces during activity in healthy individuals and in patients with H-OA. A commercially-available capacitive sensor system was validated for use in this application and found an envelope of applied forces consistent with previous literature. Using the measurement system and protocols presented in this thesis, the effectiveness of JPP at reducing hand forces can, for the first time, be objectively quantified

Data-Driven Grasp Synthesis - A Survey

We review the work on data-driven grasp synthesis and the methodologies for sampling and ranking candidate grasps. We divide the approaches into three groups based on whether they synthesize grasps for known, familiar or unknown objects. This structure allows us to identify common object representations and perceptual processes that facilitate the employed data-driven grasp synthesis technique. In the case of known objects, we concentrate on the approaches that are based on object recognition and pose estimation. In the case of familiar objects, the techniques use some form of a similarity matching to a set of previously encountered objects. Finally for the approaches dealing with unknown objects, the core part is the extraction of specific features that are indicative of good grasps. Our survey provides an overview of the different methodologies and discusses open problems in the area of robot grasping. We also draw a parallel to the classical approaches that rely on analytic formulations.Comment: 20 pages, 30 Figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Robotic

Teaching grasping points using natural movements

Trabajo presentado a la 18th Catalan Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CCIA) celebrada en Valencia (España) del 21 al 23 de octubre de 2015.The research on robots performing every-day tasks at home has pursued the problem of the manipulation of everyday objects. Among them, grasping a cloth is a challenging task, as the textile is highly-deformable and it is not straightforward to define a generic grasping point. In this paper, we address this problem by introducing a new robot interaction method that enables unexperienced users to control the robot in a natural way. When the robot proposes a grasping point, the user is able to teach the robot a new one. The data collected using this method is then used for training a system using linear regression method, which produces better grasping points and allowing better manipulation actions. The experiments demonstrates the validity of the new interaction method and its potential to improve the point-grasping selection algorithm.Peer Reviewe

Assisting Human Motion-Tasks with Minimal, Real-time Feedback

Teaching physical motions such as riding, exercising, swimming, etc. to human beings is hard. Coaches face difficulties in communicating their feedback verbally and cannot correct the student mid-action; teaching videos are two dimensional and suffer from perspective distortion. Systems that track a user and provide him real-time feedback have many potential applications: as an aid to the visually challenged, improving rehabilitation, improving exercise routines such as weight training or yoga, teaching new motion tasks, synchronizing motions of multiple actors, etc. It is not easy to deliver real-time feedback in a way that is easy to interpret, yet unobtrusive enough to not distract the user from the motion task. I have developed motion feedback systems that provide real-time feedback to achieve or improve human motion tasks. These systems track the user\u27s actions with simple sensors, and use tiny vibration motors as feedback devices. Vibration motors provide feedback that is both intuitive and minimally intrusive. My systems\u27 designs are simple, flexible, and extensible to large-scale, full-body motion tasks. The systems that I developed as part of this thesis address two classes of motion tasks: configuration tasks and trajectory tasks. Configuration tasks guide the user to a target configuration. My systems for configuration tasks use a motion-capture system to track the user. Configuration-task systems restrict the user\u27s motions to a set of motion primitives, and guide the user to the target configuration by executing a sequence of motion-primitives. Trajectory tasks assume that the user understands the motion task. The systems for trajectory tasks provide corrective feedback that assists the user in improving their performance. This thesis presents the design, implementation, and results of user experiments with the prototype systems I have developed

MY CLOTHING IS ME: Embracing ADHD in Traditional Qatari Apparel

Children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) are often secluded from society, as the condition is perceived to be a defect. These children constantly fidget, move, lose track of time, and forget to complete tasks, leading them to struggle within existing social environments. Additionally, in Qatar there is a need to educate society about ADHD. This research explores wearable solutions that alter behaviors through physical interactions and sensory engagements. In response to the challenges faced by ADHD, Qatari traditional attire has been customized to support children with time management, and communication between child, parent, and society. Additionally, these wearables challenge Qatari perspectives surrounding existing health conditions in Qatar. Design outcomes consists of clothing elements, driven and shaped by the experiences of ADHD children, their physical behavior, their senses like touch, smell and sight. It addresses the daily conduct of the ADHD child, and the relationship of the child and parent. By challenging existing norms and analyzing the Qatari traditional clothing (the Thobe, the Abaya and the Prayer Bead), design outcomes have been realized by experimenting and playing with materials, prototyping and 3D printing on fabric. Existing functions of zippers, pockets, beads, cuffs and technical construction of the outfit have been redesigned and reconstructed

How an Age Simulation Suit affects Motor and Cognitive Performance and Self-perception in Younger Adults

Background/Study Context We assessed the influence of wearing an Age Simulation Suit (GERT) on gross motor, fine motor and cognitive performance in healthy young adults. Methods In a within-subjects design, we tested 20 young adults (M age = 22.3 years) with and without the Age Simulation Suit. We assessed gross motor (Functional Fitness test) and fine motor (Purdue Pegboard test) functioning, cognitive performance (Digit Symbol Substitution test), and questionnaires on perceived physical state and mood. Gross and fine motor tests provided norms for large samples of older adults. Results Wearing the Age Simulation Suit leads to significant performance reductions in all task dimensions, with large effect sizes. Depending on the subtest, participants’ performances were reduced to the level of mid-50- to 85-years-olds for almost all tests of gross and fine motor performance. Mood and perceived physical state also declined while wearing the suit. Conclusion We argue that the GERT suit offers an attractive possibility to experimentally simulate the effects of aging-related sensory and motor losses and propose future studies with this paradigm, in the context of cognitive-motor dual-tasking or motor learning

Visual-tactile learning of garment unfolding for robot-assisted dressing

Assistive robots have the potential to support disabled and elderly people in daily dressing activities. An intermediate stage of dressing is to manipulate the garment from a crumpled initial state to an unfolded configuration that facilitates robust dressing. Applying quasi-static grasping actions with vision feedback on garment unfolding usually suffers from occluded grasping points. In this work, we propose a dynamic manipulation strategy: tracing the garment edge until the hidden corner is revealed. We introduce a model-based approach, where a deep visual-tactile predictive model iteratively learns to perform servoing from raw sensor data. The predictive model is formalized as Conditional Variational Autoencoder with contrastive optimization, which jointly learns underlying visual-tactile latent representations, a latent garment dynamics model, and future predictions of garment states. Two cost functions are explored: the visual cost, defined by garment corner positions, guarantees the gripper to move towards the corner, while the tactile cost, defined by garment edge poses, prevents the garment from falling from the gripper. The experimental results demonstrate the improvement of our contrastive visual-tactile model predictive control over single sensing modality and baseline model learning techniques. The proposed method enables a robot to unfold back-opening hospital gowns and perform upper-body dressing

Color Comprehension And Color Categories Among Blind Students: A Multi-Sensory Approach In Implementing Concrete Language To Include All Students In Advanced Writing Classes

This study investigates teaching methods regarding color comprehension and color categorization among blind students, as compared to their non-blind peers and whether they understand and represent the same color comprehension and color categories. Then after digit codes for color comprehension teaching and assistive technology for the blind had been implemented to replace the traditional way of teachings, their color comprehension was re-investigated through color categories test, examining their ability in distinguishing between shades of similar colors and expressing correct color naming that is relevant to given contexts. Further discussion from the study also reveals how this understanding of color comprehension and color categories can help modify print materials which would allow blind students, students with low vision, as well as those with color blindness to be exposed to all the components of language and literacy-related activities as they wish, and how the teachers can make use of this color comprehension and color categories to integrate a multi-sensory approach to benefit all students, not just those with special needs

Parent & Caregiver Education And Support: A Product To Support Families Of Childrn With Senosry Processing Difficulties

Purpose Parent and caregiver collaboration, participation, education, and training has shown to improve therapeutic outcomes for the child receiving therapy services for sensory processing and integration challenges (Lin, Lin, & Yu, 2018; Miller-Kuhaneck & Watling, 2018; Schoen, Miller, & Flanagan, 2018; STAR Institute, 2021). However, parent education and training are often minimally conducted or lacking altogether in the therapeutic process (Gee & Peterson, 2016; Miller-Kuhaneck & Watling, 2018). This product was created with the purpose of enhancing parent and caregiver knowledge about sensory processing difficulties and to increase follow-through of sensory strategies across contexts, such as at home and school, in the therapy clinic, and within the community. Methodology The product was developed following a comprehensive review of literature that emphasized the need for increased parent and caregiver education and support throughout the therapeutic process. Following the review of available literature, an on-site needs assessment was conducted to determine educational topics to include within the product. The product materials were organized based on the Ecology of Human Performance (EHP) Model (Dunn, Brown, & McGuigan, 1994). Results The product includes instructional materials that can be accessible outside of the therapy clinic, such as written hand-outs with pictures and corresponding videos for parents to refer to when implementing sensory strategies. These educational resources are intended to reinforce the one-on-one education/discussions that occur during the individual therapy sessions. All instructional handouts were written to be at or below the eighth grade reading level to promote readability and understandability for the population served. Each educational material includes specific strategies and recommendations for parents and caregivers to try with their child to improve or overcome the challenges associated with sensory processing difficulties. Summary The purpose of this product is to provide an outpatient pediatric clinic with resources and guidance to facilitate individualized parent education and support specific to the population served. Overall, the product should be utilized as both a direct and indirect service approach (AOTA, 2020) to enhance the child’s occupational performance across various contexts