02025nas a2200205 4500008004100000022001400041245010300055210006900158300001400227490000700241520141600248653001201664653001301676100001301689700001501702700001801717700001901735700001601754856004901770 2018 eng d a1939-141200aW-FYD: a Wearable Fabric-based Display for Haptic Multi-Cue Delivery and Tactile Augmented Reality0 aWFYD a Wearable Fabricbased Display for Haptic MultiCue Delivery a304 - 3160 v113 a

Despite the importance of softness, there is no evidence of wearable haptic systems able to deliver controllable softness cues. Here, we present the Wearable Fabric Yielding Display (W-FYD), a fabric-based display for multi-cue delivery that can be worn on user's finger and enables, for the first time, both active and passive softness exploration. It can also induce a sliding effect under the finger-pad. A given stiffness profile can be obtained by modulating the stretching state of the fabric through two motors. Furthermore, a lifting mechanism allows to put the fabric in contact with the user's finger-pad, to enable passive softness rendering. In this paper, we describe the architecture of W-FYD, and a thorough characterization of its stiffness workspace, frequency response and softness rendering capabilities. We also computed device Just Noticeable Difference in both active and passive exploratory conditions, for linear and non-linear stiffness rendering as well as for sliding direction perception. The effect of device weight was also considered. Furthermore, performance of participants and their subjective quantitative evaluation in detecting sliding direction and softness discrimination tasks are reported. Finally, applications of W-FYD in tactile augmented reality for open palpation are discussed, opening interesting perspectives in many fields of human-machine interaction.

10aHaptics10aRobotics1 aFani, S.1 aCiotti, S.1 aBattaglia, E.1 aMoscatelli, A.1 aBianchi, M. uhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8003491/02408nas a2200241 4500008004100000245007300041210006900114260001200183520171500195653001201910653001301922100001801935700001601953700001501969700001501984700001401999700001302013700001802026700002002044700001602064700001502080856007102095 2017 eng d00aPostural Hand Synergies during Environmental Constraint Exploitation0 aPostural Hand Synergies during Environmental Constraint Exploita c08/20173 a

Humans are able to intuitively exploit the shape of an object and environmental constraints to achieve stable grasps and perform dexterous manipulations. In doing that, a vast range of kinematic strategies can be observed. However, in this work we formulate the hypothesis that such ability can be described in terms of a synergistic behavior in the generation of hand postures, i.e., using a reduced set of commonly used kinematic patterns. This is in analogy with previous studies showing the presence of such behavior in different tasks, such as grasping. We investigated this hypothesis in experiments performed by six subjects, who were asked to grasp objects from a flat surface. We quantitatively characterized hand posture behavior from a kinematic perspective, i.e., the hand joint angles, in both pre-shaping and during the interaction with the environment. To determine the role of tactile feedback, we repeated the same experiments but with subjects wearing a rigid shell on the fingertips to reduce cutaneous afferent inputs. Results show the persistence of at least two postural synergies in all the considered experimental conditions and phases. Tactile impairment does not alter significantly the first two synergies, and contact with the environment generates a change only for higher order Principal Components. A good match also arises between the first synergy found in our analysis and the first synergy of grasping as quantified by previous work. The present study is motivated by the interest of learning from the human example, extracting lessons that can be applied in robot design and control. Thus, we conclude with a discussion on implications for robotics of our findings.

10aHaptics10aRobotics1 aDella Santina1 aBianchi, M.1 aAverta, G.1 aCiotti, S.1 aArapi, V.1 aFani, S.1 aBattaglia, E.1 aCatalano, M. G.1 aSantello, M1 aBicchi, A. uhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2017.00041/full02036nas a2200193 4500008003900000245008300039210006900122260007100191520131600262653001201578100001601590700001901606700001501625700002201640700001701662700001901679700001501698856012901713 2017 d00aTactile Slip and Hand Displacement: Bending Hand Motion with Tactile Illusions0 aTactile Slip and Hand Displacement Bending Hand Motion with Tact aFürstenfeldbruck (Munich), Germany, June 6-9, 2017bIEEEc06/20173 a

Touch provides an important cue to perceive the physical properties of the external objects. Recent studies showed that tactile sensation also contributes to our sense of hand position and displacement in perceptual tasks. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that, sliding our hand over a stationary surface, tactile motion may provide a feedback for guiding hand trajectory. We asked participants to touch a plate having parallel ridges at different orientations and to perform a self-paced, straight movement of the hand. In our daily-life experience, tactile slip motion is equal and opposite to hand motion. Here, we used a well-established perceptual illusion to dissociate, in a controlled manner, the two motion estimates. According to previous studies, this stimulus produces a bias in the perceived direction of tactile motion, predicted by tactile flow model. We showed a systematic deviation in the movement of the hand towards a direction opposite to the one predicted by tactile flow, supporting the hypothesis that touch contributes to motor control of the hand. We suggested a model where the perceived hand motion is equal to a weighted sum of the estimate from classical proprioceptive cues (e.g., from musculoskeletal system) and the estimate from tactile slip.

10aHaptics1 aBianchi, M.1 aMoscatelli, A.1 aCiotti, S.1 aBettelani, G., C.1 aFioretti, F.1 aLacquaniti, F.1 aBicchi, A. uhttp://www.centropiaggio.unipi.it/publications/tactile-slip-and-hand-displacement-bending-hand-motion-tactile-illusions.html01722nas a2200181 4500008004100000245006900041210006500110490000700175520120200182653001201384100001601396700001601412700001701428700001501445700001801460700001701478856004501495 2016 eng d00aA Multi-Modal Sensing Glove for Human Manual-Interaction Studies0 aMultiModal Sensing Glove for Human ManualInteraction Studies0 v 53 a

We present an integrated sensing glove that combines two of the most visionary wearable sensing technologies to provide both hand posture sensing and tactile pressure sensing in a unique, lightweight, and stretchable device. Namely, hand posture reconstruction employs Knitted Piezoresistive Fabrics that allows us to measure bending. From only five of these sensors (one for each finger) the full hand pose of a 19 degrees of freedom (DOF) hand model is reconstructed leveraging optimal sensor placement and estimation techniques. To this end, we exploit a-priori information of synergistic coordination patterns in grasping tasks. Tactile sensing employs a piezoresistive fabric allowing us to measure normal forces in more than 50 taxels spread over the palmar surface of the glove. We describe both sensing technologies, report on the software integration of both modalities, and describe a preliminary evaluation experiment analyzing hand postures and force patterns during grasping. Results of the reconstruction are promising and encourage us to push further our approach with potential applications in neuroscience, virtual reality, robotics and tele-operation.

10aHaptics1 aBianchi, M.1 aHaschke, R.1 aBüscher, G.1 aCiotti, S.1 aCarbonaro, N.1 aTognetti, A. uhttp://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/5/3/42/pdf01917nas a2200181 4500008004100000245008600041210006900127490000700196520137800203653001201581100001501593700001801608700001801626700001501644700001701659700001601676856004301692 2016 eng d00aA Synergy-Based Optimally Designed Sensing Glove for Functional Grasp Recognition0 aSynergyBased Optimally Designed Sensing Glove for Functional Gra0 v163 a

Achieving accurate and reliable kinematic hand pose reconstructions represents a challenging task. The main reason for this is the complexity of hand biomechanics, where several degrees of freedom are distributed along a continuous deformable structure. Wearable sensing can represent a viable solution to tackle this issue, since it enables a more natural kinematic monitoring. However, the intrinsic accuracy (as well as the number of sensing elements) of wearable hand pose reconstruction (HPR) systems can be severely limited by ergonomics and cost considerations. In this paper, we combined the theoretical foundations of the optimal design of HPR devices based on hand synergy information, i.e., the inter-joint covariation patterns, with textile goniometers based on knitted piezoresistive fabrics (KPF) technology, to develop, for the first time, an optimally-designed under-sensed glove for measuring hand kinematics. We used only five sensors optimally placed on the hand and completed hand pose reconstruction (described according to a kinematic model with 19 degrees of freedom) leveraging upon synergistic information. The reconstructions we obtained from five different subjects were used to implement an unsupervised method for the recognition of eight functional grasps, showing a high degree of accuracy and robustness.

10aHaptics1 aCiotti, S.1 aBattaglia, E.1 aCarbonaro, N.1 aBicchi, A.1 aTognetti, A.1 aBianchi, M. uhttp://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/6/81102024nas a2200181 4500008003900000245006600039210006200105260004600167520136700213653001201580653001301592100001601605700001801621700001701639700001501656700001501671856015601686 2016 d00aA Wearable Fabric-based Display for Haptic Multi-Cue Delivery0 aWearable Fabricbased Display for Haptic MultiCue Delivery aPhiladelphia, USA, April 8-11, 2016bIEEE3 a

Softness represents one of the most informative

haptic properties, which plays a fundamental role in both

everyday tasks and more complex procedures. Thus, it is not

surprising that much effort has been devoted to designing haptic

systems able to suitably reproduce this information. At the

same time, wearability has gained an increasing importance as

a novel paradigm to enable a more effective and naturalistic

human robot interaction. Capitalizing upon our previous works

on grounded softness devices, in this paper we present the

Wearable Fabric Yielding Display (W-FYD), a fabric-based

tactile display for multi-cue delivery that can be worn by

user’s finger. W-FYD enables to implement both passive and

active tactile exploration. Different levels of stiffness can be

reproduced by modulating the stretching state of a fabric

through two DC motors. An additional vertical degree of

freedom is implemented through a lifting mechanism, which

enables to convey softness stimuli to the user’s finger pad.

Furthermore, a sliding effect on the finger can be also induced.

Experiments with humans show the effectiveness of W-FYD for

haptic multi-cue delivery.

10aHaptics10aRobotics1 aBianchi, M.1 aBattaglia, E.1 aPoggiani, M.1 aCiotti, S.1 aBicchi, A. uhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/search/searchresult.jsp?queryText=A%20Wearable%20Fabric-based%20Display%20for%20Haptic%20Multi-Cue%20Delivery&newsearch=true