A Robotic System to Deliver Multiple Physically Bimanual Tasks via Varying Force Fields.

Mingming Zhang,Yudong Liu,Xinyu Wu,Chenyang Sun

doi:10.1109/tnsre.2022.3158339

Abstract

Individuals with physical limb disabilities are often restricted to perform activities of daily life (ADLs). While efficacy of bilateral training has been demonstrated in improving physical coordination of human limbs, few robots have been developed in simulating people's ADLs integrated with task-specific force field control. This study sought to develop a bilateral robot for better task rendering of general ADLs (gADLs), where gADL-consistent workspace is achieved by setting linear motors in series, and haptic rendering of multiple bimanual tasks (coupled, uncoupled and semi-coupled) is enabled by regulating force fields between robotic handles. Experiments were conducted with human users, and our results present a viable method of a single robotic system in simulating multiple physically bimanual tasks. In future, the proposed robotic system is expected to be serving as a coordination training device, and its clinical efficacy will be also investigated.

Highlights

BIMANUAL coordination requires two sides of the body to actively and cooperatively act in executing tasks by virtue of mutual coupling [1-3]
This study aims to develop a bilateral robot for better task rendering of people’s general ADLs integrated with task-specific force field control
Subplot (a) presents measured Xaxis forces from the two three-axis sensors Fml, Fmr, and the resultant force acting on the robotic handles Fh is derived by adding Fml and Fmr, as in (7)

Summary

Introduction

BIMANUAL coordination requires two sides of the body to actively and cooperatively act in executing tasks by virtue of mutual coupling [1-3]. Healthy people are mostly capable of coordinating their limbs during activities of daily living (ADLs), while human subjects with neurological injuries generally suffer from impaired bimanual actions. Bimanual coordination training has been considered as an alternative rehabilitation practice with positive clinical efficacy [4]. A meta-analysis [5] indicated that bilateral upper limb training was superior to unilateral form in terms of the Fugl-Meyer test of upper extremity. Medical knowledge supports the superiority of bimanual training in activating the primary motor cortex and the intact limb’s supplementary motor [6]. Bimanual training has demonstrated increased voluntary muscle contraction in impaired limbs when symmetrical movements are executed [7], promoting interhemispheric communication [8, 9]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion