@conference {3365, title = {From humans to robots: The role of cutaneous impairment in human environmental constraint exploitation to inform the design of robotic hands}, booktitle = {Ultra Modern Telecommunications and Control Systems and Workshops (ICUMT), 2017 9th International Congress on}, year = {2017}, note = {

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

}, pages = {179{\textendash}184}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Munich}, abstract = {

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{\textquoteright} 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.

}, author = {G. Averta and C. Della Santina and E. Battaglia and S. Ciotti and V. Arapi and S. Fani and M. Bianchi} } @article {2897, title = {A Fabric-based Approach for Wearable Haptics}, journal = { In: Electronics - Special Issue on Wearable Electronics and Embedded Computing Systems for Biomedical Application}, volume = {5}, year = {2016}, doi = {10.3390/electronics5030044}, author = {M. Bianchi} } @conference {2539, title = {A Finite Element Model of Tactile Flow for Softness Perception}, booktitle = {37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC2015)}, year = {2015}, note = {

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.

}, pages = {2430 - 2433}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Milano, Italy, August 25th-29th, 2015}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/EMBC.2015.7318884}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=7318884}, author = {E. Battaglia and M. Bianchi and M. L. D{\textquoteright}Angelo and M. D{\textquoteright}Imperio and F. Cannella and E. P. Scilingo and A. Bicchi} } @inbook {2087, title = {A Fabric-based Approach for Softness Rendering}, booktitle = {Multisensory Softness: Perceived Compliance from Multiple Sources of Information}, volume = {Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems}, year = {2014}, pages = {219 - 240}, publisher = {Springer-Verlag}, organization = {Springer-Verlag}, chapter = {11}, abstract = {

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.

}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, issn = {978-1-4471-6532-3}, doi = {10.1007/978-1-4471-6533-0_11}, url = {http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007\%2F978-1-4471-6533-0_11}, author = {M. Bianchi and A. Serio and E. P. Scilingo and A. Bicchi} }