TY - JOUR T1 - Integrating Wearable Haptics and Obstacle Avoidance for the Visually Impaired in Indoor Navigation: A User-Centered Approach JF - IEEE Transactions on Haptics Y1 - 2021 A1 - F. Barontini A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - L. Pallottino A1 - B. Leporini A1 - M. Bianchi VL - 14 UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9099604 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Assessment of muscle fatigue during isometric contraction using autonomic nervous system correlates JF - Biomedical Signal Processing and Control Y1 - 2019 A1 - A. Greco A1 - G. Valenza A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - E. P. Scilingo VL - 51 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1746809419300436 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Comparison of Three Hand Pose Reconstruction Algorithms Using Inertial and Magnetic Measurement Units T2 - 18th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Humanoids 2018 Y1 - 2019 A1 - P. J. Kieliba A1 - P. H. Veltink A1 - T. Lisini Baldi A1 - D. Pratichizzo A1 - G. Santaera A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - B. J. F. Van Beijnum JF - 18th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Humanoids 2018 UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8624929 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Learning From Humans How to Grasp: A Data-Driven Architecture for Autonomous Grasping With Anthropomorphic Soft Hands JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Y1 - 2019 A1 - C. D. Santina A1 - V. Arapi A1 - G. Averta A1 - F. Damiani A1 - G. Fiore A1 - A Settimi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - D. Bacciu A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Bianchi KW - Computer architecture KW - Control KW - Deep Learning in Robotics and Automation KW - Grasping KW - Learning for Soft Robots KW - Modeling KW - Natural Machine Motion KW - Neural networks KW - Robot sensing systems KW - Uncertainty KW - Videos VL - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Novel Skin-Stretch Haptic Device for Intuitive Control of Robotic Prostheses and Avatars JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Y1 - 2019 A1 - N. Colella A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. G. Catalano VL - Volume: 4 , Issue: 2 , April 2019 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Relaying the High-Frequency Contents of TactileFeedback to Robotic Prosthesis Users: Design,Filtering, Implementation, and Validation JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Y1 - 2019 A1 - S. Fani A1 - K. Di Blasio A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi VL - Volume: 4 , Issue: 2 , April 2019 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - On the time-invariance properties of upper limb synergies JF - IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering Y1 - 2019 A1 - G. Averta A1 - G. Valenza A1 - V. Catrambone A1 - F. Barontini A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Bianchi UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31135365 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Touch as an auxiliary proprioceptive cue for movement control JF - Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Physics Y1 - 2019 A1 - A. Moscatelli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - G. C. Bettelani A1 - C. V. Parise A1 - F. Lacquaniti A1 - A. Bicchi ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Wearable haptic interfaces for applications in gynecologic robotic surgery: a proof of concept in robotic myomectomy. JF - Journal of Robotic Surgery Y1 - 2019 A1 - A. Giannini A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - D. Doria A1 - S. Fani A1 - M. Caretto A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - T. Simoncini ER - TY - CONF T1 - Advanced grasping with the Pisa/IIT softHand T2 - Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Challenge Y1 - 2018 A1 - M. Bonilla A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - A. Rocchi A1 - E. Luberto A1 - G. Santaera A1 - E. Farnioli A1 - C. Piazza A1 - F. Bonomo A1 - A. Brando A1 - A. Raugi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. Garabini A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi JF - Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Challenge ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Decentralized Trajectory Tracking Control for Soft Robots Interacting with the Environment JF - IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO). Y1 - 2018 A1 - F. Angelini A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - M. Garabini A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G M Gasparri A1 - G. Grioli A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics AB -

Despite the classic nature of the problem, trajectory

tracking for soft robots, i.e. robots with compliant elements

deliberately introduced in their design, still presents several

challenges. One of these is to design controllers which can

obtain sufficiently high performance while preserving the physical

characteristics intrinsic to soft robots. Indeed, classic control

schemes using high gain feedback actions fundamentally alter the

natural compliance of soft robots effectively stiffening them, thus

de facto defeating their main design purpose. As an alternative

approach, we consider here to use a low-gain feedback, while

exploiting feedforward components. In order to cope with the

complexity and uncertainty of the dynamics, we adopt a decentralized,

iteratively learned feedforward action, combined with

a locally optimal feedback control. The relative authority of the

feedback and feedforward control actions adapts with the degree

of uncertainty of the learned component. The effectiveness of the

method is experimentally verified on several robotic structures

and working conditions, including unexpected interactions with

the environment, where preservation of softness is critical for

safety and robustness.

VL - Early Access ER - TY - JOUR T1 - DeepDynamicHand: A Deep Neural Architecture for Labeling Hand Manipulation Strategies in Video Sources Exploiting Temporal Information JF - Frontiers in Neurorobotics Y1 - 2018 A1 - A. Visar A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - D. Bacciu A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi ER - TY - CONF T1 - EEG Complexity Maps to Characterise Brain Dynamics during Upper Limb Motor Imagery T2 - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS Y1 - 2018 A1 - V. Catambrone A1 - A. Greco A1 - G. Averta A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - G. Valenza JF - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8512912 ER - TY - CONF T1 - EEG Processing to Discriminate Transitive-Intransitive Motor Imagery Tasks: Preliminary Evidences using Support Vector Machines T2 - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS Y1 - 2018 A1 - V. Catrambone A1 - A. Greco A1 - G. Averta A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - N. Vanello A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - G. Valenza A1 - E. P. Scilingo JF - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS UR - https://zenodo.org/record/2559406#.XTbl43ux9GM ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Efficient Walking Gait Generation via Principal Component Representation of Optimal Trajectories: Application to a Planar Biped Robot With Elastic Joints JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Y1 - 2018 A1 - G M Gasparri A1 - S. Manara A1 - D. Caporale A1 - G. Averta A1 - M. Bonilla A1 - H. Marino A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - G. Grioli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Garabini AB -

Recently, the method of choice to exploit robot dynamics for efficient walking is numerical optimization (NO). The main drawback in NO is the computational complexity, which strongly affects the time demand of the solution. Several strategies can be used to make the optimization more treatable and to efficiently describe the solution set. In this letter, we present an algorithm to encode effective walking references, generated offline via numerical optimization, extracting a limited number of principal components and using them as a basis of optimal motions. By combining these components, a good approximation of the optimal gaits can be generated at run time. The advantages of the presented approach are discussed, and an extensive experimental validation is carried out on a planar legged robot with elastic joints. The biped thus controlled is able to start and stop walking on a treadmill, and to control its speed dynamically as the treadmill speed changes.

VL - 3 ER - TY - CONF T1 - ExoSense: Measuring Manipulation in a Wearable Manner T2 - Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Y1 - 2018 A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - G. Grioli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi JF - Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hap-Pro: a wearable haptic device for proprioceptive feedback JF - IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering Y1 - 2018 A1 - M. Rossi A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - A. Bicchi KW - haptic feedback KW - haptic interfaces KW - proprioception KW - Prosthetic hand KW - Robot sensing systems KW - Skin KW - upper extremity prosthesis KW - Visualization KW - Wheels ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Incrementality and Hierarchies in the Enrollment of Multiple Synergies for Grasp Planning JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Y1 - 2018 A1 - G. Averta A1 - F. Angelini A1 - M. Bonilla A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi KW - 19-DoF anthropomorphic hand KW - Biomechanics KW - common grasping tasks KW - compliant joint/mechanism KW - covariance matrices KW - experimental covariance matrix KW - Force KW - force distribution KW - grasp planning KW - Grasping KW - grippers KW - hand posture reconstruction KW - hand-object relative pose KW - incremental learning algorithm KW - Jacobian matrices KW - joint angle covariation patterns KW - learning (artificial intelligence) KW - minimisation KW - multifingered hands KW - pose estimation KW - postural hand synergies KW - postural synergies KW - posture description KW - principal component analysis KW - reduced complexity representation KW - relative statistical weight KW - Robots KW - Solid modeling KW - synergy vectors KW - Task analysis VL - 3 ER - TY - CONF T1 - On the role of postural synergies for grasp force generation and upper limb motion control T2 - International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation Y1 - 2018 A1 - G. Averta A1 - F. Angelini A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - G. Valenza A1 - M. Bianchi JF - International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation UR - https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-01845-0_69 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Separating haptic guidance from task dynamics: A practical solution via cutaneous devices T2 - 2018 IEEE Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS) Y1 - 2018 A1 - E. Pezent A1 - S. Fani A1 - J. Bradley A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. K. O'Malley KW - Biomechanics KW - cutaneous forces KW - cutaneous guidance KW - Dynamics KW - Exoskeletons KW - guidance condition KW - guidance cues KW - guidance forces KW - haptic feedback KW - haptic guidance KW - haptic interfaces KW - human movement KW - kinesthetic guidance KW - rendering (computer graphics) KW - separate haptic cues KW - Skin KW - Task analysis KW - task completion strategies KW - task complexity KW - task dynamics KW - task forces KW - Training KW - Trajectory KW - Wrist JF - 2018 IEEE Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS) ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Simplifying Telerobotics: Wearability and Teleimpedance Improves Human-Robot Interactions in Teleoperation JF - IEEE Robotics Automation Magazine Y1 - 2018 A1 - S. Fani A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Tognetti A1 - G. Valenza A1 - A. Ajoudani A1 - M. Bianchi KW - application fields KW - augmented teleoperation KW - Autonomous robots KW - communication KW - effective design KW - effective simplification KW - environmental constraints KW - feedback KW - Force feedback KW - fundamental requirement KW - haptic feedback devices KW - haptic interfaces KW - human workspace KW - human-robot interaction KW - human-robot interactions KW - human-robot interfaces KW - ideal scenario KW - integrated approach KW - integrated interface KW - integrated system KW - interaction forces KW - intuitive information exchange KW - Kinematics KW - KUKA lightweight robotic arm KW - lightweight design KW - manipulators KW - master KW - position control KW - reduced versions KW - Robot sensing systems KW - robotic devices KW - robotic hand-arm system KW - robotic manipulator KW - robotic teleoperation KW - simplified information exchange KW - slave robot KW - stiffness control KW - synergy KW - Task analysis KW - teleimpedance techniques KW - Telemedicine KW - teleoperator system KW - telerobotics KW - TI control KW - vision KW - wearability KW - wearable feedback KW - wearable hand/arm VL - 25 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The SoftHand Pro: Functional evaluation of a novel, flexible, and robust myoelectric prosthesis JF - PLOS One Y1 - 2018 A1 - S. B. Godfrey A1 - K. Zhao A1 - A. Theuer A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - R. Breighner A1 - D. Bhaskaran A1 - R. Lennon A1 - G. Grioli A1 - M. Santello A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - K. Andrews ER - TY - CONF T1 - The softpro project: Synergy-based open-source technologies for prosthetics and rehabilitation T2 - International Symposium on Wearable Robotics Y1 - 2018 A1 - C. Piazza A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - E. Ricciardi A1 - D. Pratichizzo A1 - S. Haddadin A1 - Luft, A. R. L. A1 - O. Lambercy A1 - R. Gassert A1 - E. Jakubowitz A1 - H. Van Der Kooij A1 - F. Tonis A1 - F. Bonomo A1 - B. de Jonge A1 - T. Ward A1 - K. Zhao A1 - M. Santello A1 - A. Bicchi JF - International Symposium on Wearable Robotics ER - TY - CONF T1 - Touch-Based Grasp Primitives for Soft Hands: Applications to Human-to-Robot Handover Tasks and Beyond T2 - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) Y1 - 2018 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Averta A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - C. Rosales A1 - M. Bonilla A1 - A. Tondo A1 - M. Poggiani A1 - G. Santaera A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - A. Bicchi JF - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) ER - TY - JOUR T1 - W-FYD: a Wearable Fabric-based Display for Haptic Multi-Cue Delivery and Tactile Augmented Reality JF - IEEE Transactions on Haptics Y1 - 2018 A1 - S. Fani A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - A. Moscatelli A1 - M. Bianchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

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.

VL - 11 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8003491/ IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Controlling Soft Robots: Balancing Feedback and Feedforward Elements JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine Y1 - 2017 A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - F. Angelini A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Garabini A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics AB -

Soft robots (SRs) represent one of the most significant recent evolutions in robotics. Designed to embody safe and natural behaviors, they rely on compliant physical structures purposefully designed to embody desirable and sometimes variable impedance characteristics. This article discusses the problem of controlling SRs. We start by observing that most of the standard methods of robotic control—e.g., high-gain robust control, feedback linearization, backstepping, and active impedance control—effectively fight against or even completely cancel the physical dynamics of the system, replacing them with a desired model. This defeats the purpose of introducing physical compliance. After all, what is the point of building soft actuators if we then make them stiff by control? An alternative to such approaches can be conceived by observing humans, who can obtain good motion accuracy and repeatability while maintaining the intrinsic softness of their bodies. In this article, we show that an anticipative model of human motor control, using a feedforward action combined with low-gain feedback, can be used to achieve human-like behavior. We present an implementation of such an idea that uses iterative learning control. Finally, we present the experimental results of the application of such learned anticipative control to a physically compliant robot. The control application achieves the desired behavior much better than a classical feedback controller used for comparison.

VL - 24 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7930438 IS - 3 N1 -

This work is supported by European Commission grant H2020-ICT-645599 (“SOMA”: SOft Manipulation) and European Research Council Advanced grant 291166 (“SoftHands”).

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Design of an Under-Actuated Wrist Based on Adaptive Synergies T2 - IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation, ICRA2017 Y1 - 2017 A1 - S. Casini A1 - V. Tincani A1 - G. Averta A1 - M. Poggiani A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

An effective robotic wrist represents a key enabling element in robotic manipulation, especially in prosthetics. In this paper, we propose an under-actuated wrist system, which is also adaptable and allows to implement different under-actuation schemes. Our approach leverages upon the idea of soft synergies - in particular the design method of adaptive synergies - as it derives from the field of robot hand design. First we introduce the design principle and its implementation and function in a configurable test bench prototype, which can be used to demonstrate the feasibility of our idea. Furthermore, we report on results from preliminary experiments with humans, aiming to identify the most probable wrist pose during the pre-grasp phase in activities of daily living. Based on these outcomes, we calibrate our wrist prototype accordingly and demonstrate its effectiveness to accomplish grasping and manipulation tasks.

JF - IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation, ICRA2017 PB - IEEE CY - Singapore, 29 May-3 June 2017 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7989789/ ER - TY - CONF T1 - Design of an under-actuated wrist based on adaptive synergies T2 - Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2017 IEEE International Conference on Y1 - 2017 A1 - S. Casini A1 - V. Tincani A1 - G. Averta A1 - M. Poggiani A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi AB -

An effective robotic wrist represents a key en- abling element in robotic manipulation, especially in prosthetics. In this paper, we propose an under-actuated wrist system, which is also adaptable and allows to implement different under- actuation schemes. Our approach leverages upon the idea of soft synergies - in particular the design method of adaptive synergies - as it derives from the field of robot hand design. First we intro- duce the design principle and its implementation and function in a configurable test bench prototype, which can be used to demonstrate the feasibility of our idea. Furthermore, we report on results from preliminary experiments with humans, aiming to identify the most probable wrist pose during the pre-grasp phase in activities of daily living. Based on these outcomes, we calibrate our wrist prototype accordingly and demonstrate its effectiveness to accomplish grasping and manipulation tasks.

JF - Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2017 IEEE International Conference on PB - IEEE ER - TY - CONF T1 - From humans to robots: The role of cutaneous impairment in human environmental constraint exploitation to inform the design of robotic hands T2 - Ultra Modern Telecommunications and Control Systems and Workshops (ICUMT), 2017 9th International Congress on Y1 - 2017 A1 - G. Averta A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - V. Arapi A1 - S. Fani A1 - M. Bianchi AB -

Human hands are capable of a variety of movements, thanks to their extraordinary biomechanical structure and rely- ing on the richness of human tactile information. Recently, soft robotic hands have opened exciting possibilities and, at the same time, new issues related to planning and control. In this work, we propose to study human strategies in environmental constraint exploitation to grasp objects from a table. We have considered both the case where participants’ fingertips were free and with a rigid shell worn on them to understand the role of cutaneous touch. Main kinematic strategies were quantified and classified in an unsupervised manner. The principal strategies appear to be consistent in both experimental conditions, although cluster cardinality differs. Furthermore, as expected, tactile feedback improves both grasp precision and quality performance. Results opens interesting perspective for sensing and control of soft manipulators.

JF - Ultra Modern Telecommunications and Control Systems and Workshops (ICUMT), 2017 9th International Congress on PB - IEEE CY - Munich N1 -

This work has been awarded with the "Best Student Paper Award" and the "Best Paper in Session - Robotics"

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Heart rate variability analysis during muscle fatigue due to prolonged isometric contraction T2 - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS Y1 - 2017 A1 - A. Guidi A1 - A. Greco A1 - F. Felici A1 - A. Leo A1 - E. Ricciardi A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - G. Valenza A1 - E. P. Scilingo JF - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS ER - TY - JOUR T1 - An Integrated Approach to Characterize the Behavior of a Human Fingertip in Contact with a Silica Window JF - IEEE Transactions on Haptics Y1 - 2017 A1 - M. L. D'Angelo A1 - F. Cannella A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. D'Imperio A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. Poggiani A1 - G. Rossi A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - D. G. Caldwell KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

Understanding the mechanisms of human tactual perception represents a challenging task in haptics and humanoid robotics. A classic approach to tackle this issue is to accurately and exhaustively characterize the mechanical behavior of human fingertip. The output of this characterization can then be exploited to drive the design of numerical models, which can be used to investigate in depth the mechanisms of human sensing. In this work, we present a novel integrated measurement technique and experimental set up for in vivo characterization of the deformation of the human fingertip at contact, in terms of contact area, force, deformation, and pressure distribution. The device presented here compresses the participant's fingertip against a flat surface, while the aforementioned measurements are acquired and experimental parameters such as velocity, finger orientation, and displacement (indentation) controlled. Experimental outcomes are then compared and integrated with the output of a 3D finite element (FE) model of the human fingertip, built upon existing validated models. The agreement between numerical and experimental data represents a validation for our approach.

VL - 10 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7579582 IS - 1 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Muscle fatigue assessment through electrodermal activity analysis during isometric contraction T2 - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS Y1 - 2017 A1 - A. Greco A1 - A. Guidi A1 - F. Felici A1 - A. Leo A1 - E. Ricciardi A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - L. Citi A1 - G. Valenza A1 - E. P. Scilingo JF - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Postural Hand Synergies during Environmental Constraint Exploitation JF - Fronters in Neurorobotics Y1 - 2017 A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Averta A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - V. Arapi A1 - S. Fani A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Santello A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

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.

UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2017.00041/full ER - TY - CONF T1 - The Rice Haptic Rocker: skin stretch haptic feedback with the Pisa/IIT SoftHand T2 - IEEE World Haptics Conference Y1 - 2017 A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - J. P. Clark A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. K. O'Malley KW - Haptics AB -

Myoelectric prostheses have seen increased application in clinical practice and research, due to their potential for good functionality and versatility. Yet, myoelectric prostheses still suffer from a lack of intuitive control and haptic feedback, which can frustrate users and lead to abandonment. To address this problem, we propose to convey proprioceptive information for a prosthetic hand with skin stretch using the Rice Haptic Rocker. This device was integrated with the myo-controlled version of Pisa/IIT SoftHand and a size discrimination test with 18 able bodied subjects was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Results show that the Rice Haptic Rocker can be successfully used to convey proprioceptive information. A Likert survey was also presented to the experiment participants, who evaluated the integrated setup as easy to use and effective in conveying proprioception.

JF - IEEE World Haptics Conference PB - IEEE CY - Fürstenfeldbruck (Munich), Germany, June 6-9, 2017 N1 -

The authors gratefully acknowledge Matteo Rossi for his valuable advice and Mikaela Juzswik for her unique contribution in the physical realization of some of the equipment used in the experiments. This work was partially supported by the European Community funded project WEARHAP (contract 601165), by the European Commission project (Horizon 2020 research program) SOFTPRO (no. 688857), by the ERC Advanced Grant no. 291166 SoftHands and by the NSF grant IIS-1065497.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - On the Role of Affective Properties in Hedonic and Discriminant Haptic Systems JF - International Journal of Social Robotics Y1 - 2017 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Valenza A1 - A Lanata A1 - A. Greco A1 - M. Nardelli A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - E. P. Scilingo KW - Haptics AB -

Common haptic devices are designed to effectively provide kinaesthetic and/or cutaneous discriminative inputs to the users by modulating some physical parameters. However, in addition to this behavior, haptic stimuli were proven to convey also affective inputs to the brain. Nevertheless, such affective properties of touch are often disregarded in the design (and consequent validation) of haptic displays. In this paper we present some preliminary experimental evidences about how emotional feelings, intrinsically present while interacting with tactile displays, can be assessed. We propose a methodology based on a bidimensional model of elicited emotions evaluated by means of simple psychometric tests and statistical inference. Specifically, affective dimensions are expressed in terms of arousal and valence, which are quantified through two simple one-question psychometric tests, whereas statistical inference is based on rank-based non-parametric tests. In this work we consider two types of haptic systems: (i) a softness display, FYD-2, which was designed to convey purely discriminative softness haptic stimuli and (ii) a system designed to convey affective caress-like stimuli (by regulating the velocity and the strength of the “caress”) on the user forearm. Gender differences were also considered. In both devices, the affective component clearly depends on the stimuli and it is gender-related. Finally, we discuss how such outcomes might be profitably used to guide the design and the usage of haptic devices, in order to take into account also the emotional component, thus improving system performance.

VL - 9 UR - http://rdcu.be/ugoW IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - SoftHand at the CYBATHLON: A user's experience JF - JOURNAL OF NEUROENGINEERING AND REHABILITATION Y1 - 2017 A1 - S. B. Godfrey A1 - M. Rossi A1 - C. Piazza A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - K. Zhao A1 - A. Bicchi ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The SoftHand Pro-H: A Hybrid Body-Controlled, Electrically Powered Hand Prosthesis for Daily Living and Working JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine Y1 - 2017 A1 - C. Piazza A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - S. B. Godfrey A1 - M. Rossi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - K. Zhao A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=8110634 N1 -

This work was supported by the European Commission project (Horizon 2020 research program) SOFTPRO 688857, the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant SoftHands “A Theory of Soft Synergies for a New Generation of Artificial Hands,” ERC-291166, and the Proof of Concept Project SoftHand Pro-H, ERC-2016-PoC 727536. 

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Synergy-driven performance enhancement of vision-based 3D hand pose reconstruction T2 - Wireless mobile communication and healthcare : 6th International conference, MobiHealth 2016, Milan, Italy, November 14-16, 2016, Proceedings Y1 - 2017 A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - I. Oikonomidis A1 - A. Makris A1 - A. Tsoli A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - A. A. Agyros A1 - M. Bianchi JF - Wireless mobile communication and healthcare : 6th International conference, MobiHealth 2016, Milan, Italy, November 14-16, 2016, Proceedings ER - TY - CONF T1 - Tactile Slip and Hand Displacement: Bending Hand Motion with Tactile Illusions T2 - IEEE World Haptic Conference Y1 - 2017 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Moscatelli A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - G. C. Bettelani A1 - F. Fioretti A1 - F. Lacquaniti A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics AB -

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.

JF - IEEE World Haptic Conference PB - IEEE CY - Fürstenfeldbruck (Munich), Germany, June 6-9, 2017 N1 -

 This work is supported in part by the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant SoftHands “A Theory of Soft Synergies for a New Generation of Artificial Hands” no. ERC-291166, by the EU H2020 project “SOFTPRO: Synergy-based Open-source Foundations and Technologies for Prosthetics and RehabilitatiOn” (no. 688857) and by the EU FP7 project (no. 601165), “WEARable HAPtics for Humans and Robots (WEARHAP)”. We thank Priscilla Balestrucci and Colleen P. Ryan for helpful comments and suggestions.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Unvealing the principal modes of human upper limb movements through functional analysis JF - Frontiers in Robotics and AI Y1 - 2017 A1 - G. Averta A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - F. Felici A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi AB -

The rich variety of human upper limb movements requires an extraordinary coordination of different joints according to specific spatio-temporal patterns. However, unvealing these motor schemes is a challenging task. Principal components have been often used for analogous purposes, but such an approach relies on hypothesis of temporal uncorrelation of upper limb poses in time. To overcome these limitations, in this work, we leverage on functional principal component analysis (fPCA). We carried out experiments with 7 subjects performing a set of most significant human actions, selected considering state-of-the-art grasp taxonomies and human kinematic workspace. fPCA results show that human upper limb trajectories can be reconstructed by a linear combination of few principal time-dependent functions, with a first component alone explaining around 60/70% of the observed behaviors. This allows to infer that in daily living activities humans reduce the complexity of movement by modulating their motions through a reduced set of few principal patterns. Finally, we discuss how this approach could be profitably applied in robotics and bioengineering, opening fascinating perspectives to advance the state of the art of artificial systems, as it was the case of hand synergies.

VL - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Assessment of Myoelectric Controller Performance and Kinematic Behavior of a Novel Soft Synergy-inspired Robotic Hand for Prosthetic Applications JF - Frontiers in Neurorobotics Y1 - 2016 A1 - S. Fani A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - S. Jain A1 - J. Pimenta Neto A1 - S. Boege A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Santello KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

Myoelectric-artificial limbs can significantly advance the state of the art in prosthetics, since they can be used to control mechatronic devices through muscular activity in a way that mimics how the subjects used to activate their muscles before limb loss. However, surveys indicate that dissatisfaction with the functionality of terminal devices underlies the widespread abandonment of prostheses. We believe that one key factor to improve acceptability of prosthetic devices is to attain human-likeness of prosthesis movements, a goal which is being pursued by research on social and human-robot interactions. Therefore, to reduce early abandonment of terminal devices, we propose that controllers should be designed such as to ensure effective task accomplishment in a natural fashion. In this work, we have analyzed and compared the performance of three types of myoelectric controller algorithms based on surface electromyography to control an under-actuated and multi-degrees of freedom prosthetic hand, the SoftHand Pro. The goal of the present study was to identify the myoelectric algorithm that best mimics the native hand movements. As a preliminary step, we first quantified the repeatability of the SoftHand Pro finger movements and identified the electromyographic recording sites for able-bodied individuals with the highest signal-to-noise ratio from two pairs of muscles, i.e. flexor digitorum superficialis/extensor digitorum communis, and flexor carpi radialis/extensor carpi ulnaris. Able-bodied volunteers were then asked to execute reach-to-grasp movements, while electromyography signals were recorded from flexor digitorum superficialis/extensor digitorum communis as this was identified as the muscle pair characterized by high signal-to-noise ratio and intuitive control. Subsequently, we tested three myoelectric controllers that mapped electromyography signals to position of the SoftHand Pro. We found that a differential electromyography-to-position mapping ensured the highest coherence with hand movements. Our results represent a first step towards a more effective and intuitive control of myoelectric hand prostheses.

VL - 10 UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5066092/ IS - 11 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Change in Fingertip Contact Area as a Novel Proprioceptive Cue JF - Current Biology Y1 - 2016 A1 - A. Moscatelli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - A. Terekhov A1 - V. Hayward A1 - M. Ernst A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

Humans, many animals, and certain robotic hands have deformable fingertip pads. Deformable pads have the advantage of conforming to the objects that are being touched, ensuring a stable grasp for a large range of forces and shapes. Pad deformations change with finger displacements during touch. Pushing a finger against an external surface typically provokes an increase of the gross contact area, potentially providing a relative motion cue, a situation comparable to looming in vision. The rate of increase of the area of contact also depends on the compliance of the object. Because objects normally do not suddenly change compliance, participants may interpret an artificially induced variation in compliance, which coincides with a change in the gross contact area, as a change in finger displacement, and consequently they may misestimate their finger’s position relative to the touched object. To test this, we asked participants to compare the perceived displacements of their finger while contacting an object varying pseudo-randomly in compliance from trial to trial. Results indicate a bias in the perception of finger displacement induced by the change in compliance, hence in contact area, indicating that participants interpreted the altered cutaneous input as a cue to proprioception. This situation highlights the capacity of the brain to take advantage of knowledge of the mechanical properties of the body and of the external environment.

VL - 26 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982216301348 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Fabric-based Approach for Wearable Haptics JF - In: Electronics - Special Issue on Wearable Electronics and Embedded Computing Systems for Biomedical Application Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Bianchi VL - 5 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands JF - Physics of Life Reviews Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Santello A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M Gabiccini A1 - E. Ricciardi A1 - G. Salvietti A1 - D Prattichizzo A1 - M. Ernst A1 - A. Moscatelli A1 - H. Jorntell A1 - A. Kappers A1 - K. Kyriakopulos A1 - A Albu-Schaeffer A1 - C. Castellini A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics VL - 17 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1571064516000269 ER - TY - MPCT T1 - Human and Robot Hands - Sensorimotor Synergies to Bridge the Gap Between Neuroscience and Robotics Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Moscatelli KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

This book looks at the common problems both human and robotic hands encounter when controlling the large number of joints, actuators and sensors required to efficiently perform motor tasks such as object exploration, manipulation and grasping. The authors adopt an integrated approach to explore the control of the hand based on sensorimotor synergies that can be applied in both neuroscience and robotics.  Hand synergies are based on goal-directed, combined muscle and kinematic activation leading to a reduction of the dimensionality of the motor and sensory space, presenting a highly effective solution for the fast and simplified design of artificial systems.

Presented in two parts, the first part, Neuroscience, provides the theoretical and experimental foundations to describe the synergistic organization of the human hand. The second part, Robotics, Models and Sensing Tools, exploits the framework of hand synergies to better control and design robotic hands and haptic/sensing systems/tools, using a reduced number of control inputs/sensors, with the goal of pushing their effectiveness close to the natural one.

Human and Robot Hands provides a valuable reference for students, researchers and designers who are interested in the study and design of the artificial hand.

JF - Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems PB - Springer SN - 978-3-319-26706-7 UR - http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319267050 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Influence of Force Feedback on Grasp Force Modulation in Prosthetic Applications: a Preliminary Study T2 - Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2016 38th Annual International Conference Y1 - 2016 A1 - S. B. Godfrey A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Santello JF - Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2016 38th Annual International Conference CY - Orlando, USA, August 16-20, 2016 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7591957 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Inhomogeneous point-processes to instantaneously assess affective haptic perception through heartbeat dynamics information JF - Scientific reports Y1 - 2016 A1 - G. Valenza A1 - A. Greco A1 - L. Citi A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - R. Barbieri A1 - E. P. Scilingo KW - Bioengineering VL - 6 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Multi-Modal Sensing Glove for Human Manual-Interaction Studies JF - Electronics Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - R. Haschke A1 - G. Büscher A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - N. Carbonaro A1 - A. Tognetti KW - Haptics AB -

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.

VL - 5 UR - http://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/5/3/42/pdf IS - 3 N1 -

This work is supported in part by the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant “SoftHands: A Theory of Soft Synergies for a New Generation of Artificial Hands” (No. ERC-291166), by the EU H2020 projects “SoftPro: Synergy-based Open-source Foundations and Technologies for Prosthetics and RehabilitatiOn” (No. 688857) and “SOMA: Soft Manipulation” (No. 64559) and by the EU FP7 project (No. 601165) “WEARable HAPtics for Humans and Robots (WEARHAP)”.

ER - TY - Generic T1 - On the Pleasantness of a Haptic Stimulation: How Different Textures can be Recognized through Heart Rate Variability Nonlinear Analysis T2 - IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2016) Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Nardelli A1 - A. Greco A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - G. Valenza JF - IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2016) CY - Orlando, USA, August 16-20, 2016 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Sensorymotor Synergies: Fusion of Cutaneous Touch and Proprioception in the Perceived Hand Kinematics T2 - SPRINGER SERIES ON TOUCH AND HAPTIC SYSTEMS Y1 - 2016 A1 - A. Moscatelli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Ernst JF - SPRINGER SERIES ON TOUCH AND HAPTIC SYSTEMS VL - Human and Robot Hands UR - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-26706-7 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Soft Robots that Mimic the Neuromusculoskeletal System T2 - 3rd International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation (ICNR2016) Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Garabini A1 - C. Della Santina A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics AB -

In motor control studies, the question on which
parameters human beings and animals control through their
nervous system has been extensively explored and discussed,
and several hypotheses proposed. It is widely acknowledged
that useful inputs in this problem could be provided by
developing artificial replication of the neuromusculoskeletal
system, to experiment different motor control hypothesis. In
this paper we present such device, which reproduces many of
the characteristics of an agonistic-antagonistic muscular pair
acting on a joint.

JF - 3rd International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation (ICNR2016) PB - Springer VL - Converging Clinical and Engineering Research on Neurorehabilitation UR - http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-46669-9_45 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - The SoftHand Pro: Translation from Robotic Hand to Prosthetic Prototype T2 - Converging Clinical and Engineering Research on Neurorehabilitation II Y1 - 2016 A1 - S. B. Godfrey A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - K. Zhao A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - R. Breighner A1 - A. Theuer A1 - K. Andrews A1 - G. Grioli A1 - M. Santello A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

This work presents the translation from a humanoid robotic hand to a prosthetic prototype and its first evaluation in a set of 9 persons with amputation. The Pisa/IIT SoftHand is an underactuated hand built on the neuroscientific principle of motor synergies enabling it to perform natural, human-like movements and mold around grasped objects with minimal control input. These features motivated the development of the SoftHand Pro, a prosthetic version of the SoftHand built to interface with a prosthetic socket. The results of the preliminary testing of the SoftHand Pro showed it to be a highly functional design with an intuitive control system. Present results warrant further testing to develop the SoftHand Pro.

JF - Converging Clinical and Engineering Research on Neurorehabilitation II PB - Springer International Publishing VL - 15 UR - http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-46669-9_78 N1 -

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation (ICNR2016), October 18-21, 2016, Segovia, Spain

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A synergy-based hand control is encoded in human motor cortical areas JF - eLIFE Y1 - 2016 A1 - A. Leo A1 - G. Handjaras A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - H. Marino A1 - M Gabiccini A1 - Guidi, A. A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - P. Pietrini A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. Santello A1 - E. Ricciardi AB -

How the human brain controls hand movements to carry out different tasks is still debated. The concept of synergy has been proposed to indicate functional modules that may simplify the control of hand postures by simultaneously recruiting sets of muscles and joints. However, whether and to what extent synergic hand postures are encoded as such at a cortical level remains unknown. Here, we combined kinematic, electromyography, and brain activity measures obtained by functional magnetic resonance imaging while subjects performed a variety of movements towards virtual objects. Hand postural information, encoded through kinematic synergies, were represented in cortical areas devoted to hand motor control and successfully discriminated individual grasping movements, significantly outperforming alternative somatotopic or muscle-based models. Importantly, hand postural synergies were predicted by neural activation patterns within primary motor cortex. These findings support a novel cortical organization for hand movement control and open potential applications for brain-computer interfaces and neuroprostheses.

UR - http://elifesciences.org/content/5/e13420v2 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Synergy-Based Optimal Sensing Techniques for Hand Pose Reconstruction T2 - Human and Robot Hands Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - Salaris, P. A1 - A. Bicchi AB -

Most of the neuroscientific results on synergies and their technical implementations in robotic systems, which are widely discussed throughout this book (see e.g. Chaps. 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12 and 13), moved from the analysis of hand kinematics in free motion or during the interaction with the external environment. This observation motivates both the need for the development of suitable and manageable models for kinematic recordings, as described in Chap. 14, and the calling for accurate and economic systems or “gloves” able to provide reliable hand pose reconstructions. However, this latter aspect, which represents a challenging point also for many human-machine applications, is hardly achievable in economically and ergonomically viable sensing gloves, which are often imprecise and limited. To overcome these limitations, in this chapter we propose to exploit the bi-directional relationship between neuroscience and robotic/artificial systems, showing how the findings achieved in one field can inspire and be used to advance the state of art in the other one, and vice versa. More specifically, our leading approach is to use the concept of kinematic synergies to optimally estimate the posture of a human hand using non-ideal sensing gloves. Our strategy is to collect and organize synergistic information and to fuse it with insufficient and inaccurate glove measurements in a consistent manner and with no extra costs. Furthermore, we will push forward such an analysis to the dual problem of how to design pose sensing devices, i.e. how and where to place sensors on a glove, to get maximum information about the actual hand posture, especially with a limited number of sensors. We will study the optimal design of gloves of different nature. Conclusions that can be drawn take inspiration from and might inspire further investigations on the biology of human hand receptors. Experimental evaluations of these techniques are reported and discussed.

JF - Human and Robot Hands PB - Springer VL - Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems SN - 978-3-319-26705-0 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Synergy-Based Optimally Designed Sensing Glove for Functional Grasp Recognition JF - Sensors Y1 - 2016 A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - N. Carbonaro A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - A. Tognetti A1 - M. Bianchi KW - Haptics AB -

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.

VL - 16 UR - http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/6/811 IS - 6 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Tactile Augmented Reality for Arteries Palpation in Open Surgery Training T2 - 7th International Conference, MIAR 2016 Y1 - 2016 A1 - S. Condino A1 - R. Vigliaoro A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - Morelli, L A1 - M. Ferrari A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - V. Ferrari KW - Bioengineering AB -

Palpation is an essential step of several open surgical procedures for locating arteries by arterial pulse detection. In this context, surgical simulation would ideally provide realistic haptic sensations to the operator. This paper presents a proof of concept implementation of tactile augmented reality for open-surgery training. The system is based on the integration of a wearable tactile device into an augmented physical simulator which allows the real time tracking of artery reproductions and the user finger and provides pulse feedback during palpation. Preliminary qualitative test showed a general consensus among surgeons regarding the realism of the arterial pulse feedback and the usefulness of tactile augmented reality in open-surgery simulators.

JF - 7th International Conference, MIAR 2016 PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Bern, Switzerland, August 24-26, 2016 VL - Medical Imaging and Augmented Reality - Volume 9805 of the series Lecture Notes in Computer Science SN - 978-3-319-43774-3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ThimbleSense: a fingertip-wearable tactile sensor for grasp analysis JF - IEEE Transactions on Haptics Y1 - 2016 A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - Altobelli, A A1 - G. Grioli A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - A. Serio A1 - M. Santello A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

Accurate measurement of contact forces between hand and grasped objects is crucial to study sensorimotor control during grasp and manipulation. In this work we introduce ThimbleSense, a prototype of individual-digit wearable force/torque sensor based on the principle of intrinsic tactile sensing. By exploiting the integration of this approach with an active marker-based motion capture system, the proposed device simultaneously measures absolute position and orientation of the fingertip, which in turn yields measurements of contacts and force components expressed in a global reference frame. The main advantage of this approach with respect to more conventional solutions is its versatility. Specifically, ThimbleSense can be used to study grasping and manipulation of a wide variety of objects, while still retaining complete force/torque measurements. Nevertheless, validation of the proposed device is a necessary step before it can be used for experimental purposes. In this work we present the results of a series of experiments designed to validate the accuracy of ThimbleSense measurements and evaluate the effects of distortion of tactile afferent inputs caused by the device’s rigid shells on grasp forces.

VL - 9 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7294702 IS - 1 N1 -
This work was partially supported by the European Community funded projects WEARHAP, PACMAN and SOMA (contracts 601165, 600918 and 645599 respectively), by the ERC Advanced Grant no. 291166 SoftHands
ER - TY - CONF T1 - Towards a Novel Generation of Haptic and Robotic Interfaces: Integrating A ective Physiology in Human-Robot Interaction T2 - IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) 2016. Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Valenza A1 - A. Greco A1 - M. Nardelli A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - E. P. Scilingo JF - IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) 2016. CY - New York, August 26-31, 2016 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7745100 N1 -
This work is supported in part by the European Re-
search Council under the Advanced Grant SoftHands “A
Theory of Soft Synergies for a New Generation of Artificial
Hands” (no. ERC-291166), by the EU FP7 project “WEAR-
able HAPtics for Humans and Robots (WEARHAP)” (no.
601165) and by the EU H2020 project “SoftPro: Synergy-
based Open-source Foundations and Technologies for Pros-
thetics and RehabilitatiOn” (H2020-ICT-688857).
ER - TY - CONF T1 - A Wearable Fabric-based Display for Haptic Multi-Cue Delivery T2 - IEEE Haptics Symposium Y1 - 2016 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. Poggiani A1 - S. Ciotti A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

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.

JF - IEEE Haptics Symposium PB - IEEE CY - Philadelphia, USA, April 8-11, 2016 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/search/searchresult.jsp?queryText=A%20Wearable%20Fabric-based%20Display%20for%20Haptic%20Multi-Cue%20Delivery&newsearch=true ER - TY - CONF T1 - Characterization of Nonlinear Finger Pad Mechanics for Tactile Rendering T2 - IEEE World Haptics Conference Y1 - 2015 A1 - E. Miguel A1 - M. L. D'Angelo A1 - F. Cannella A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M Memeo A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - D. G. Caldwell A1 - M. A. Otaduy KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

The computation of skin forces and deformations for tactile rendering requires an accurate model of the extremely nonlinear behavior of the skin. In this work, we investigate the characterization of fingermechanics with the goal of designing accurate nonlinear models for tactile rendering. First, we describe a measurement setup that enables the acquisition of contact force and contact area in the context of controlled finger indentation experiments. Second, we describe an optimization procedure that estimates the parameters of strain-limiting deformation models that match best the acquired data. We show that the acquisition setup allows the measurement of force and area information with high repeatability, and the estimation method reaches nonlinear models that match the measured data with high accuracy.

JF - IEEE World Haptics Conference CY - Chicago, USA, 22-25 June 2015 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7177692 N1 -

softhands, werahap

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Design and Characterization of a Fabric-based Softness Display JF - IEEE Transactions on Haptics Y1 - 2015 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

To enable a realistic tactile interaction with remote or virtual objects, softness information represents a fundamental property to be rendered via haptic devices. What is challenging is to reduce the complexity of such an information as it arises from contact mechanics and to find suitable simplifications that can lead an effective development of softness displays. A possible approach is to surrogate detailed tactile cues with information on the rate of spread of the contact area between the object and the finger as the contact force increases, i.e. force/area relation. This paradigm is called contact area spread rate. In this paper we discuss how such a paradigm has inspired the design of a tactile device (hereinafter referred to as Fabric Yielding Display, FYD-2), which exploits the elasticity of a fabric to mimic different levels of stiffness, while the contact area on the finger indenting the fabric is measured. In this manner, the FYD-2 can be controlled to reproduce force-area characteristics. In this work, we describe the FYD-2 architecture and report a psychophysical characterization. FYD-2 is shown to be able to accurately reproduce force-area curves of typical objects and to enable a reliable softness discrimination in human users.

VL - 8 IS - 2 N1 -

This work is supported in part by the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant SoftHands “A Theory of Soft Synergies for a New Generation of Artificial Hands” (no. ERC-291166), and by the EU FP7 project (no. 601165) “WEARable HAPtics for Humans and Robots (WEARHAP)”

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Design and Realization of the CUFF - Clenching Upper-Limb Force Feedback Wearable Device for Distributed Mechano-Tactile Stimulation of Normal and Tangential Skin Forces T2 - IEEE International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS2015 Y1 - 2015 A1 - S. Casini A1 - M. Morvidoni A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics AB -

Rendering forces to the user is one of the main goals of haptic technology. While most force-feedback interfaces are robotic manipulators, attached to a fixed frame and designed to exert forces on the users while being moved, more recent haptic research introduced two novel important ideas. On one side, cutaneous stimulation aims at rendering haptic stimuli at the level of the skin, with a distributed, rather than, concentrated approach. On the other side, wearable haptics focuses on highly portable and mobile devices, which can be carried and worn by the user as the haptic equivalent of an mp3 player. This paper presents a light and simple wearable device (CUFF) for the distributed mechano-tactile stimulation of the user’s arm skin with pressure and stretch cues, related to normal and tangential forces, respectively. The working principle and the mechanical and control implementation of the CUFF device are presented. Then, after a basic functional validation, a first application of the device is shown, where it is used to render the grasping force of a robotic hand (the Pisa/IIT SoftHand). Preliminary results show that the device is capable to deliver in a reliable manner grasping force information, thus eliciting a good softness discrimination in users and enhancing the overall grasping experience.

JF - IEEE International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS2015 PB - IEEE CY - Hamburg, Germany, 28 Sept - 2 Oct 2015 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=7353520&newsearch=true&queryText=Design%20and%20Realization%20of%20the%20CUFF%20-%20Clenching%20Upper-Limb%20Force%20Feedback%20Wearable%20Device%20for%20Distributed%20Mechano-Tactile%20Stimulatio N1 -

The authors want to thank Cosimo della Santina, Andrea Di Basco, Riccardo Persichini and Fabio Bonomo for their really valuable support in the development of the hardware prototype. This work is supported in part by the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant SoftHands “A Theory of Soft Synergies for a New Generation of Artificial Hands” (no. ERC-291166), and by the EU FP7 project (no. 601165) “WEARable HAPtics for Humans and Robots (WEARHAP)

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Electrodermal activity analysis during affective haptic elicitation T2 - Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Y1 - 2015 A1 - A. Greco A1 - G. Valenza A1 - M. Nardelli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A Lanata A1 - E. P. Scilingo KW - Bioengineering JF - Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE PB - IEEE CY - Milano, ITA N1 -

Published

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Electroencephalographic spectral correlates of caress-like affective haptic stimuli T2 - Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Y1 - 2015 A1 - G. Valenza A1 - A. Greco A1 - M. Nardelli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A Lanata A1 - S. Rossi A1 - E. P. Scilingo KW - Bioengineering JF - Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE PB - IEEE CY - Milano, ITA N1 -

Published

ER - TY - CONF T1 - A Finite Element Model of Tactile Flow for Softness Perception T2 - 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC2015) Y1 - 2015 A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. L. D'Angelo A1 - M. D'Imperio A1 - F. Cannella A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC2015) PB - IEEE CY - Milano, Italy, August 25th-29th, 2015 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7318884 N1 -

This work was partially supported by the European Research Council under the ERC Advanced Grant no. 291166 SoftHands (A Theory of Soft Synergies for a New Generation of Artificial Hands) and under the grant agreement no. 601165 Wearhap (Wearable Haptics for Humans and Robots), within the FP7/2007-2013 program: Cognitive Systems and Robotics.

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Gender-specific velocity recognition of caress-like stimuli through nonlinear analysis of Heart Rate Variability T2 - Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Y1 - 2015 A1 - M. Nardelli A1 - G. Valenza A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Greco A1 - A Lanata A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - E. P. Scilingo KW - Bioengineering JF - Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE PB - IEEE CY - Milano, ITA N1 -

Published

ER - TY - CONF T1 - An instrumented manipulandum for human grasping studies T2 - 14th IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, ICORR 2015 Y1 - 2015 A1 - Altobelli, A A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - A. Serio A1 - Baud-Bovy, G A1 - A. Bicchi JF - 14th IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, ICORR 2015 PB - IEEE CY - Singapore, 11-14 Aug. 2015 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7281194 ER - TY - CONF T1 - A Novel Tactile Display for Softness and Texture Rendering in Tele-Operation Tasks T2 - IEEE World Haptics Conference Y1 - 2015 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. Poggiani A1 - A. Serio A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

Softness and texture high-frequency information represent fundamental haptic properties for every day life activities and environment tactual exploration. While several displays have been produced to convey either softness or high-frequency information, there is no or little evidence of systems that are able to reproduce both these properties in an integrated fashion. This aspect is especially crucial in medical tele-operated procedures, where roughness and stiffness of human tissues are both important to correctly identify given pathologies through palpation (e.g. in tele-dermatology). This work presents a fabric yielding display (FYD-pad), a fabric-based tactile display for softness and texture rendering. The system exploits the control of two motors to modify both the stretching state of the elastic fabric forsoftness rendering and to convey texture information on the basis of accelerometer-based data. At the same time, the measurement of the contact area can be used to control remote or virtual robots. In this paper, we discuss the architecture of FYD-pad and the techniques used for softness and texturereproduction as well as for synthesizing probe-surface interactions from real data. Tele-operationexamples and preliminary experiments with humans are reported, which show the effectiveness of the device in delivering both softness and texture information.

JF - IEEE World Haptics Conference PB - IEEE CY - Chicago, USA, 22-25 June 2015 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7177690 N1 -

This work is supported in part by the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant SoftHands “A Theory of Soft Synergies for a New Generation of Artificial Hands” no. ERC-291166, and by the EU FP7 project (no. 601165), “WEARable HAPtics for Humans and Robots (WEARHAP)”

ER - TY - CONF T1 - A change in the fingertip contact area induces an illusory displacement of the finger T2 - Eurohaptics Y1 - 2014 A1 - A. Moscatelli A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - Al Atassi, O. A1 - S. Fani A1 - A. Terekhov A1 - V. Hayward A1 - M. Ernst A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Eurohaptics PB - Springer-Verlag CY - Versailles, France), June 2014 VL - LNCS - Free Preview Haptics: Neuroscience, Devices, Modeling, and Applications ER - TY - CONF T1 - Design and preliminary affective characterization of a novel fabric-based tactile display T2 - Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE Y1 - 2014 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Valenza A1 - A. Serio A1 - A Lanata A1 - L. Greco A1 - M. Nardelli A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE CY - Houston, TX ER - TY - CONF T1 - Exploiting hand kinematic synergies and wearable under-sensing for hand functional grasp recognition T2 - 4th International Conference on Wireless Mobile Communication and Healthcare - "Transforming healthcare through innovations in mobile and wireless technologies" Y1 - 2014 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - N. Carbonaro A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - F. Lorussi A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - D. De Rossi A1 - A. Tognetti KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - 4th International Conference on Wireless Mobile Communication and Healthcare - "Transforming healthcare through innovations in mobile and wireless technologies" CY - November 3–5, 2014 Athens, Greece ER - TY - CONF T1 - Exploring haptic feedback for the Pisa/IIT SoftHand T2 - Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE Y1 - 2014 A1 - S. B. Godfrey A1 - A. Ajoudani A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE CY - Houston, TX ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exploring Teleimpedance and Tactile Feedback for Intuitive Control of the Pisa/IIT SoftHand JF - IEEE Transactions on Haptics Y1 - 2014 A1 - A. Ajoudani A1 - S. B. Godfrey A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - N G Tsagarakis A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics VL - 7 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6755554 IS - 2 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - A Fabric-based Approach for Softness Rendering T2 - Multisensory Softness: Perceived Compliance from Multiple Sources of Information Y1 - 2014 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

In this chapter we describe a softness display based on the contact area spread rate (CASR) paradigm. This device uses a stretchable fabric as a substrate that can be touched by users, while contact area is directly measured via an optical system. By varying the stretching state of the fabric, different stiffness values can be conveyed to users. We describe a first technological implementation of the display and compare its performance in rendering various levels of stiffness with the one exhibited by a pneumatic CASR-based device. Psychophysical experiments are reported and discussed. Afterwards, we present a new technological implementation for the fabric-based display, with reduced dimensions and faster actuation, which enables rapid changes in the fabric stretching state. These changes are mandatory to properly track typical force/area curves of real materials. System performance in mimicking force-area curves obtained from real objects exhibits a high degree of reliability, also in eliciting overall discriminable levels of softness.

JF - Multisensory Softness: Perceived Compliance from Multiple Sources of Information PB - Springer-Verlag VL - Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems UR - http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4471-6533-0_11 ER - TY - CONF T1 - The tactile toolbox T2 - Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE Y1 - 2014 A1 - A. Serio A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M Gabiccini A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE CY - Houston, TX ER - TY - CONF T1 - ThimbleSense: A new wearable tactile device for human and robotic fingers T2 - Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE Y1 - 2014 A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - G. Grioli A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - M. Santello A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2014 IEEE CY - Houston, TX ER - TY - CONF T1 - Three-digit grasp haptic device with variable contact stiffness for rehabilitation and human grasping studies T2 - 22nd Mediterranean Conference of Control and Automation (MED) 2014 Y1 - 2014 A1 - Altobelli, A A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - Baud-Bovy, G A1 - M Gabiccini A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

This paper describes an haptic system designed to vary the stiffness of three contact points in an independent and controllable fashion, by suitably regulating the inner pressure of three pneumatic tactile displays. At the same time, the contact forces exerted by the user are measured by six degree-of-freedom force sensors placed under each finger. This device might be profitably used in hand rehabilitation and human grasping studies. We report and discuss preliminary results on device validation as well as some illustrative measurement examples.

JF - 22nd Mediterranean Conference of Control and Automation (MED) 2014 PB - IEEE CY - Palermo, Italy, 16-19 June 2014 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6961395 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Characterization and Psychophysical Studies of an Air-Jet Lump Display JF - Transactions on Haptics Y1 - 2013 A1 - J.C Gwilliam A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - L. K. Su A1 - A.M. Okamura KW - Robotics ER - TY - CONF T1 - A data-driven kinematic model of the human hand with soft-tissue artifact compensation mechanism for grasp synergy analysis T2 - IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) Y1 - 2013 A1 - M Gabiccini A1 - G. Stillfried A1 - H. Marino A1 - M. Bianchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) CY - Tokyo, Japan ER - TY - CONF T1 - A Device for Mimicking the Contact Force/Contact Area Relationship of Different Materials with Applications to Softness Rendering T2 - IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2013 Y1 - 2013 A1 - A. Serio A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics JF - IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2013 CY - Tokyo, Japan ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Synergy-Based Hand Pose Sensing: Optimal Glove Design JF - International Journal of Robotics Research Y1 - 2013 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - P Salaris A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics AB -

In this paper we study the problem of improving human hand pose sensing device performance by exploiting the knowledge on how humans most frequently use their hands in grasping tasks. In a companion paper we studied the problem of maximizing the reconstruction accuracy of the hand pose from partial and noisy data provided by any given pose sensing device (a sensorized "glove") taking into account statistical a priori information. In this paper we consider the dual problem of how to design pose sensing devices, i.e. how and where to place sensors on a glove, to get maximum information about the actual hand posture. We study the continuous case, whereas individual sensing elements in the glove measure a linear combination of joint angles, the discrete case, whereas each measure corresponds to a single joint angle, and the most general hybrid case, whereas both continuous and discrete sensing elements are available. The objective is to provide, for given a priori information and fixed number of measurements, the optimal design minimizing in average the reconstruction error. Solutions relying on the geometrical synergy definition as well as gradient flow-based techniques are provided. Simulations of reconstruction performance show the effectiveness of the proposed optimal design.

VL - 32 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Synergy-based Hand Pose Sensing: Reconstruction Enhancement JF - International Journal of Robotics Research Y1 - 2013 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - P Salaris A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics AB -

Low-cost sensing gloves for reconstruction posture provide measurements which are limited under several regards. They are generated through an imperfectly known model, are subject to noise, and may be less than the number of Degrees of Freedom (DoFs) of the hand. Under these conditions, direct reconstruction of the hand posture is an ill-posed problem, and performance can be very poor. This paper examines the problem of estimating the posture of a human hand using(low-cost) sensing gloves, and how to improve their performance by exploiting the knowledge on how humans most frequently use their hands. To increase the accuracy of pose reconstruction without modifying the glove hardware - hence basically at no extra cost - we propose to collect, organize, and exploit information on the probabilistic distribution of human hand poses in common tasks. We discuss how a database of such an a priori information can be built, represented in a hierarchy of correlation patterns or postural synergies, and fused with glove data in a consistent way, so as to provide a good hand pose reconstruction in spite of insufficient and inaccurate sensing data. Simulations and experiments on a low-cost glove are reported which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.

VL - 32 IS - 4 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Artificially Rendered Cutaneous Cues for a New Generation of Haptic Displays T2 - Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems - part 2 Y1 - 2012 A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - N. Vanello A1 - V. Hartwig A1 - L. Landini A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics JF - Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems - part 2 PB - Springer VL - Immersive Multimodal Interactive Presence ER - TY - CONF T1 - Design and Control of an Air-Jet Lump Display T2 - Haptics Symposium Y1 - 2012 A1 - J.C Gwilliam A1 - A. Degirmenci A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A.M. Okamura KW - Robotics JF - Haptics Symposium CY - Vancouver, Canada ER - TY - THES T1 - On the Role of Haptic Synergies in Modelling the Sense of Touch and in Designing Artificial Haptic Systems Y1 - 2012 A1 - M. Bianchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics ER - TY - CONF T1 - Synergy-based Optimal Desing of Hand Pose Sensing T2 - International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS 2012- JTCF Award Y1 - 2012 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - P Salaris A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Robotics JF - International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS 2012- JTCF Award CY - Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal ER - TY - CONF T1 - On the Use of Postural Synergies to Improve Human Hand Pose Reconstruction T2 - Haptics Symposium Y1 - 2012 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - P Salaris A1 - A. Turco A1 - N. Carbonaro A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Haptics Symposium CY - Vancouver, Canada ER - TY - CONF T1 - Characterization of an Air Jet Haptic Lump Display T2 - 33rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2011) Y1 - 2011 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - J.C Gwilliam A1 - A. Degirmenci A1 - A.M. Okamura KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - 33rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2011) ER - TY - CONF T1 - Haptic interfaces: new strategies to convey tactile information T2 - Automatica.it 2011 Y1 - 2011 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Automatica.it 2011 CY - Pisa, Italy N1 -

poster presentation

ER - TY - CONF T1 - A new fabric based softness display T2 - Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperator Systems Y1 - 2010 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperator Systems CY - Waltham,Massachusetts, USA N1 -

Best Student Paper and Best Paper Award Finalist

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Rendering Softness: Integration of kinaesthetic and cutaneous information in a haptic device JF - Transactions on Haptics Y1 - 2010 A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics VL - 3 N1 -

Best Student Paper and Best Paper Award Finalist

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Validation of a Virtual Reality Environment to Study Anticipatory Modulation of Digit Forces and Position T2 - Eurohaptics 2010 Y1 - 2010 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - G. Grioli A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - M. Santello A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Eurohaptics 2010 T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science CY - Amsterdam (The Netherlands) VL - 6192/2010 ER - TY - CONF T1 - A new softness display based on bi-elastic fabric T2 - World Haptics Y1 - 2009 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics AB -

Haptic perception allows to explore and recognize an object by conveying several physical information to mechano-receptors and thermo-receptors lying into our skin throughout the body. The term

JF - World Haptics CY - Salt Lake City, USA N1 -

poster presentation

ER - TY - CONF T1 - Rendering softness: a new fabric yielding display T2 - Workshop for young researchers on human - friendly robotics - Symposium Y1 - 2009 A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - A. Serio A1 - E. P. Scilingo A1 - A. Bicchi KW - Haptics KW - Robotics JF - Workshop for young researchers on human - friendly robotics - Symposium CY - Sestri levante (Ge), Italy ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Skin stretch haptic feedback to convey closure information in anthropomorphic, under-actuated upper limb soft prostheses JF - IEEE Transactions on Haptics ( Early Access ) Y1 - 0 A1 - E. Battaglia A1 - J. Clark A1 - M. Bianchi A1 - M. G. Catalano A1 - A. Bicchi A1 - M. K. O'Malley ER -