%0 Newspaper Article %B IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering %D 2020 %T Evaluation of a Simultaneous Myoelectric Control Strategy for a Multi-DoF Transradial Prosthesis %A C. Piazza %A M. Rossi %A M. G. Catalano %A A. Bicchi %A L. Hargrove %B IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering %G eng %0 Journal Article %J Frontiers in neurorobotics %D 2019 %T Design and Assessment of Control Maps for Multi-Channel sEMG-Driven Prostheses and Supernumerary Limbs %A M. Maimeri %A C. Della Santina %A C. Piazza %A M. Rossi %A M. G. Catalano %A G. Grioli %B Frontiers in neurorobotics %V 13 %G eng %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2019.00026/full %R 10.3389/fnbot.2019.00026 %0 Journal Article %J Frontiers in neurorobotics %D 2019 %T Design and Assessment of Control Maps for Multi-Channel sEMG-Driven Prostheses and Supernumerary Limbs %A M. Maimeri %A C. Della Santina %A C. Piazza %A M. Rossi %A M. G. Catalano %A G. Grioli %B Frontiers in neurorobotics %V 13 %G eng %R 10.3389/fnbot.2019.00026 %0 Journal Article %J IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering %D 2018 %T Hap-Pro: a wearable haptic device for proprioceptive feedback %A M. Rossi %A M. Bianchi %A E. Battaglia %A M. G. Catalano %A A. Bicchi %K haptic feedback %K haptic interfaces %K proprioception %K Prosthetic hand %K Robot sensing systems %K Skin %K upper extremity prosthesis %K Visualization %K Wheels %B IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering %P 1-1 %G eng %R 10.1109/TBME.2018.2836672 %0 Conference Paper %B International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) %D 2017 %T Preliminary results toward a naturally controlled multi-synergistic prosthetic hand %A M. Rossi %A C. Della Santina %A C. Piazza %A G. Grioli %A M. G. Catalano %A A. Bicchi %K Robotics %X

Robotic hands embedding human motor control principles in their mechanical design are getting increasing interest thanks to their simplicity and robustness, combined with good performance. Another key aspect of these hands is that humans can use them very effectively thanks to the similarity of their behavior with real hands. Nevertheless, controlling more than one degree of actuation remains a challenging task. In this paper, we take advantage of these characteristics in a multi-synergistic prosthesis. We propose an integrated setup composed of Pisa/IIT SoftHand 2 and a control strategy which simultaneously and proportionally maps the human hand movements to the robotic hand. The control technique is based on a combination of non-negative matrix factorization and linear regression algorithms. It also features a real-time continuous posture compensation of the electromyographic signals based on an IMU. The algorithm is tested on five healthy subjects through an experiment in a virtual environment. In a separate experiment, the efficacy of the posture compensation strategy is evaluated on five healthy subjects and, finally, the whole setup is successfully tested in performing realistic daily life activities.

%B International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) %@ 978-1-5386-2296-4 %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8009437/ %R 10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009437 %0 Journal Article %J JOURNAL OF NEUROENGINEERING AND REHABILITATION %D 2017 %T SoftHand at the CYBATHLON: A user's experience %A S. B. Godfrey %A M. Rossi %A C. Piazza %A M. G. Catalano %A M. Bianchi %A G. Grioli %A K. Zhao %A A. Bicchi %B JOURNAL OF NEUROENGINEERING AND REHABILITATION %G eng %R 10.1186/s12984-017-0334-y %0 Journal Article %J IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine %D 2017 %T The SoftHand Pro-H: A Hybrid Body-Controlled, Electrically Powered Hand Prosthesis for Daily Living and Working %A C. Piazza %A M. G. Catalano %A S. B. Godfrey %A M. Rossi %A G. Grioli %A M. Bianchi %A K. Zhao %A A. Bicchi %K Haptics %K Robotics %B IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine %8 11/2017 %G eng %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=8110634 %R 10.1109/MRA.2017.2751662 %0 Conference Paper %B IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA2016) %D 2016 %T Reflex Control of the Pisa/IIT SoftHand during Object Slippage %A A. Ajoudani %A E. Hocaoglu %A Altobelli, A %A M. Rossi %A E. Battaglia %A N G Tsagarakis %A A. Bicchi %K Haptics %K Robotics %X

In this work, to guarantee the Pisa/IIT SoftHand’s

grasp robustness against slippage, three reflex control modes,

namely Current, Pose and Impedance, are implemented and

experimentally evaluated. Towards this objective, ThimbleSense

fingertip sensors are designed and integrated into the thumb

and middle fingers of the SoftHand for real-time detection and

control of the slippage. Current reflex regulates the restoring

grasp forces of the hand by modulating the motor’s current

profile according to an update law. Pose and Impedance reflex

modes instead replicate this behaviour by implementing an

impedance control scheme. The difference between the two

latter is that the stiffness gain in Impedance reflex mode is

being varied in addition to the hand pose, as a function of

the slippage on the fingertips. Experimental setup also includes

a seven degrees-of-freedom robotic arm to realize consistent

trajectories (e.g. lifting) among three control modes for the sake

of comparison. Different test objects are considered to evaluate

the efficacy of the proposed reflex modes in our experimental

setup. Results suggest that task-appropriate restoring forces

can be achieved using Impedance reflex due to its capability

in demonstrating instantaneous and rather smooth reflexive

behaviour during slippage. Preliminary experiments on five

healthy human subjects provide evidence on the similarity of the

control concepts exploited by the humans and the one realized

by the Impedance reflex, highlighting its potential in prosthetic

applications.

%B IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA2016) %I IEEE %C Stockholm, Sweden %P 1972 - 1979 %G english %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7487344 %R 10.1109/ICRA.2016.7487344 %0 Conference Paper %B 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC2015) %D 2015 %T Effect of Homogenous Object Stiffness on Tri-digit Grasp Properties %A S. B. Godfrey %A Altobelli, A %A M. Rossi %A A. Bicchi %K Haptics %K Robotics %X
This paper presents experimental findings on how humans modulate their muscle activity while grasping objects of varying levels of compliance. We hypothesize that one of the key abilities that allows humans to successfully cope with uncertainties while grasping compliant objects is the ability to modulate muscle activity to control both grasp force and stiffness in a way that is coherent with the task. To that end, subjects were recruited to perform a grasp and lift task with a tripod-grasp device with contact surfaces of variable compliance. Subjects performed the task under four different compliance conditions while surface EMG from the main finger flexor and extensor muscles was recorded along with force and torque data at the contact points. Significant increases in the extensor muscle (the antagonist in the task) and co-contraction levels were found with increasing compliance at the contact points. These results suggest that the motor system may employ a strategy of increasing cocontraction, and thereby stiffness, to counteract the decreased stability in grasping compliant objects. Future experiments will examine the extent to which this phenomenon is also related to specific task features, such as precision versus power grasp and object weight.
 
%B 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC2015) %I IEEE %C Milano, Italy, August 25th-29th, 2015 %P 6704 - 6707 %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7319931 %R 10.1109/EMBC.2015.7319931 %0 Conference Paper %B International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), 2015 %D 2015 %T Electromyographic Mapping of Finger Stiffness in Tripod Grasp: a Proof of Concept %A M. Rossi %A Altobelli, A %A S. B. Godfrey %A A. Ajoudani %A A. Bicchi %K Haptics %K Robotics %X

Effective execution of a manipulation task using prosthetic or robotic hands requires that the motion and the impedance profiles of the fingers be appropriately commanded. This, however, brings some design and control challenges regarding the individual planning and realization of the finger motion and stiffnesstrajectories. It appears that the central nervous system solves for this complexity in an effective and coordinated manner which has been well-recognized under the concept of hand synergies. While the exploitation of this concept in kinematic coordinates has lead to the development of several successful robotic designs and control strategies, its extension to dynamic coordinates, such as coordinated stiffening of the fingers, remains to be investigated. Indeed, in this study we provide preliminary evidence on the existence of such coordinated stiffening patterns in human fingers and establish initial steps towards a real-time and effective modelling of the finger stiffness in a tripod grasp. To achieve this goal, the endpoint stiffness of the thumb, index and middle fingers of five healthy subjects are experimentally identified and correlated with the electromyography (EMG) signals recorded from a dominant antagonistic pair of the forearm muscles. Our findings suggest that: i) the magnitude of thestiffness ellipses at the fingertips grows in a coordinated way, subsequent to the co-contraction of the forearm muscles; ii) the length of the ellipses' axes appears to have a nearly linear relationship with the co-contraction level of the antagonistic muscle pair.

%B International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), 2015 %I IEEE %C Singapore, 11 – 14 August 2015 %P 181-186 %G english %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7281196 %R 10.1109/ICORR.2015.7281196