01277nas a2200205 4500008004500000245005900045210005900104260002200163300001200185490007200197520062200269653001300891100001700904700001800921700001600939700002000955700001500975700001500990856006601005 2016 engldsh 00aSoft Robots that Mimic the Neuromusculoskeletal System0 aSoft Robots that Mimic the Neuromusculoskeletal System bSpringerc10/2016 a259-2630 vConverging Clinical and Engineering Research on Neurorehabilitation3 a

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.

10aRobotics1 aGarabini, M.1 aDella Santina1 aBianchi, M.1 aCatalano, M. G.1 aGrioli, G.1 aBicchi, A. uhttp://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-46669-9_4501929nas a2200205 4500008003900000245012300039210006900162260003900231300001600270520124500286653001201531653001301543100001401556700001801570700002001588700001501608700001701623700001501640856006801655 2016 d00aSoftHand Pro-D: Matching Dynamic Content of Natural User Commands with Hand Embodiment for Enhanced Prosthesis Control0 aSoftHand ProD Matching Dynamic Content of Natural User Commands  aStockholm, Sweden, May 16-21bIEEE a3516 - 35233 a

State of the art of hand prosthetics is divided between simple and reliable gripper-like systems and sophisticate hi-tech poly-articular hands which tend to be complex both in their design and for the patient to operate. In this paper, we introduce the idea of decoding different movement intentions of the patient using the dynamic frequency content of the control signals in a natural way. We move a step further showing how this idea can be embedded in the mechanics of an underactuated soft hand by using only passive damping components.

In particular we devise a method to design the hand hardware to obtain a given desired motion. This method, that we call of the dynamic synergies, builds on the theory of linear descriptor systems, and is based on the division of the hand movement in a slow and a fast components. We use this method to evolve the design of the Pisa/IIT SoftHand in a prototype prosthesis which, while still having 19 degrees of freedom and just one motor, can move along two different synergistic directions of motion (and combinations of the two), to perform either a pinch or a power grasp. Preliminary experimental results are presented, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed design

10aHaptics10aRobotics1 aPiazza, C1 aDella Santina1 aCatalano, M. G.1 aGrioli, G.1 aGarabini, M.1 aBicchi, A. uhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=748753201963nas a2200169 4500008003900000245009100039210006900130260000900199300001400208520142300222653001301645100001501658700001701673700002001690700001501710856006801725 2015 d00aSoft Actuation in Cyclic Motions: Stiffness Profile Optimization for Energy Efficiency0 aSoft Actuation in Cyclic Motions Stiffness Profile Optimization  bIEEE a107 - 1133 a
In this paper, we investigate the role of variable stiffness in the reduction of the energy cost for mechanical systems that perform desired tasks. The objective is to assess the use of Variable Stiffness Actuation (VSA) by determining an optimal stiffness profile and the associated energy cost of performing a desired task. For the analysis we consider mechanical systems of n-Degrees of Freedom (DoF), using VSA. We find an analytical solution that expresses the optimal stiffness profile during the task as a function of joint trajectories. This stiffness profile can be either constant or variable in time, and it minimizes a cost function, when performing a desired task.
We calculate the cost related to the torque of the system and the additional cost of changing or keeping a stiffness actively constant. Additionally, we discuss some cases for which it is worth to change the stiffness during a task and cases for which a constant stiffness may be better solution. Furthermore, from simulations and experiments we show cases in which using a variable stiffness profile allows cost savings w.r.t. constant
stiffness. The use of variable stiffness depends on the task, i.e. on the joint trajectories and their frequency, as well as on the mechanical implementation of the actuator used.
10aRobotics1 aVelasco, A1 aGarabini, M.1 aCatalano, M. G.1 aBicchi, A. uhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=736352200633nas a2200169 4500008003900000245008700039210006900126260002600195653001300221100001500234700001800249700001700267700001600284700001500300700001500315856013300330 2013 d00aSoft-Actuators in Cyclic Motion: Analytical Optimization of Stiffness and Pre-Load0 aSoftActuators in Cyclic Motion Analytical Optimization of Stiffn aAtlanta, Georgia, USA10aRobotics1 aVelasco, A1 aGasparri, G M1 aGarabini, M.1 aMalagia, L.1 aSalaris, P1 aBicchi, A. uhttps://www.centropiaggio.unipi.it/publications/soft-actuators-cyclic-motion-analytical-optimization-stiffness-and-pre-load.html