2023
Farina, Dario; Burdet, Etienne; Mehring, Carsten; Ibáñez, Jaime
Roboticists Want to Give You a Third Arm: Unused Bandwidth in Neurons Can be Tapped to Control Extra Limbs Journal Article
In: IEEE Spectrum, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 22–46, 2023, ISSN: 0018-9235.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags:
@article{farina_roboticists_2023,
title = {Roboticists Want to Give You a Third Arm: Unused Bandwidth in Neurons Can be Tapped to Control Extra Limbs},
author = { Dario Farina and Etienne Burdet and Carsten Mehring and Jaime Ibáñez},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2023.10061646},
doi = {10.1109/MSPEC.2023.10061646},
issn = {0018-9235},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-03-01},
urldate = {2023-05-29},
journal = {IEEE Spectrum},
volume = {60},
number = {3},
pages = {22--46},
abstract = {Consider a surgeon performing a delicate operation, one that needs her expertise and steady hands—all three of them. As her two biological hands manip-ulate surgical instruments, a third robotic limb that's attached to her torso plays a supporting role. Or picture a construction worker who is thankful for his extra robotic hand as it braces the heavy beam he's fastening into place with his other two hands. Imagine wearing an exoskeleton that would let you handle multiple objects simultaneously, like Spiderman's Dr. Octopus. Or contemplate the out-there music a composer could write for a pianist who has 12 fingers to spread across the keyboard.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Consider a surgeon performing a delicate operation, one that needs her expertise and steady hands—all three of them. As her two biological hands manip-ulate surgical instruments, a third robotic limb that's attached to her torso plays a supporting role. Or picture a construction worker who is thankful for his extra robotic hand as it braces the heavy beam he's fastening into place with his other two hands. Imagine wearing an exoskeleton that would let you handle multiple objects simultaneously, like Spiderman's Dr. Octopus. Or contemplate the out-there music a composer could write for a pianist who has 12 fingers to spread across the keyboard.
2022
Eden, Jonathan; Bräcklein, Mario; Ibáñez, Jaime; Barsakcioglu, Deren Y; Di Pino, Giovanni; Farina, Dario; Burdet, Etienne; Mehring, Carsten
Principles of human movement augmentation and the challenges in making it a reality Journal Article
In: Nature Communications, vol. 13, 2022.
@article{eden_principles_2022,
title = {Principles of human movement augmentation and the challenges in making it a reality},
author = {Jonathan Eden and Mario Bräcklein and Jaime Ibáñez and Deren Y Barsakcioglu and Di Pino, Giovanni and Dario Farina and Etienne Burdet and Carsten Mehring},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-022-28725-7},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-12-01},
urldate = {2022-12-01},
journal = {Nature Communications},
volume = {13},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Di Stefano, Nicola; Jarrassé, Nathanaël; Valera, Luca
The Ethics of Supernumerary Robotic Limbs. An Enactivist Approach Journal Article
In: Science and Engineering Ethics, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 57, 2022, ISSN: 1471-5546.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Enactivism, Human augmentation, Human enhancement, Motor augmentation, Wearable robotics
@article{di_stefano_ethics_2022,
title = {The Ethics of Supernumerary Robotic Limbs. An Enactivist Approach},
author = { Di Stefano, Nicola and Nathanaël Jarrassé and Luca Valera},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-022-00405-1},
doi = {10.1007/s11948-022-00405-1},
issn = {1471-5546},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-11-01},
urldate = {2022-11-01},
journal = {Science and Engineering Ethics},
volume = {28},
number = {6},
pages = {57},
abstract = {Supernumerary robotic limbs are innovative devices in the field of wearable robotics which can provide humans with unprecedented sensorimotor abilities. However, scholars have raised awareness of the ethical issues that would arise from the large adoption of technologies for human augmentation in society. Most negative attitudes towards such technologies seem to rely on an allegedly clear distinction between therapy and enhancement in the use of technological devices. Based on such distinction, people tend to accept technologies when used for therapeutic purposes (e.g., prostheses), but tend to raise issues when similar devices are used for upgrading a physical or cognitive ability (e.g., supernumerary robotics limbs). However, as many scholars have pointed out, the distinction between therapy and enhancement might be theoretically flawed. In this paper, we present an alternative approach to the ethics of supernumerary limbs which is based on two related claims. First, we propose to conceive supernumerary limbs as tools that necessarily modify our psychological and bodily identity. At the same time, we stress that such a modification is not ethically bad in itself; on the contrary, it drives human interaction with the environment. Second, by comparing our view with the extended mind thesis, we claim that the mediation through tools is crucial for the formation of novel meanings and skills that constitute human interaction with the world. We will relate the latter claim to enactivism as a helpful theoretical perspective to frame issues related to artificial limbs and, more in general, to technologies for augmentation. Based on this approach, we finally sketch some suggestions for future directions in the ethics of supernumerary limbs.},
keywords = {Enactivism, Human augmentation, Human enhancement, Motor augmentation, Wearable robotics},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Supernumerary robotic limbs are innovative devices in the field of wearable robotics which can provide humans with unprecedented sensorimotor abilities. However, scholars have raised awareness of the ethical issues that would arise from the large adoption of technologies for human augmentation in society. Most negative attitudes towards such technologies seem to rely on an allegedly clear distinction between therapy and enhancement in the use of technological devices. Based on such distinction, people tend to accept technologies when used for therapeutic purposes (e.g., prostheses), but tend to raise issues when similar devices are used for upgrading a physical or cognitive ability (e.g., supernumerary robotics limbs). However, as many scholars have pointed out, the distinction between therapy and enhancement might be theoretically flawed. In this paper, we present an alternative approach to the ethics of supernumerary limbs which is based on two related claims. First, we propose to conceive supernumerary limbs as tools that necessarily modify our psychological and bodily identity. At the same time, we stress that such a modification is not ethically bad in itself; on the contrary, it drives human interaction with the environment. Second, by comparing our view with the extended mind thesis, we claim that the mediation through tools is crucial for the formation of novel meanings and skills that constitute human interaction with the world. We will relate the latter claim to enactivism as a helpful theoretical perspective to frame issues related to artificial limbs and, more in general, to technologies for augmentation. Based on this approach, we finally sketch some suggestions for future directions in the ethics of supernumerary limbs.
Boljanić, Tanja; Isaković, Milica; Malešević, Jovana; Formica, Domenico; Di Pino, Giovanni; Keller, Thierry; Štrbac, Matija
Abstracts from the IFESS 2021 conferences Journal Article
In: Artificial Organs, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 36–41, 2022, ISSN: 0160-564X, 1525-1594.
@article{noauthor_abstracts_2022,
title = {Abstracts from the IFESS 2021 conferences},
author = {Tanja Boljanić and Milica Isaković and Jovana Malešević and Domenico Formica and Di Pino, Giovanni and Thierry Keller and Matija Štrbac},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aor.14132},
doi = {10.1111/aor.14132},
issn = {0160-564X, 1525-1594},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-03-01},
urldate = {2022-03-01},
journal = {Artificial Organs},
volume = {46},
number = {3},
pages = {36--41},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2021
Noccaro, Alessia; Eden, Jonathan; Di Pino, Giovanni; Formica, Domenico; Burdet, Etienne
Human performance in three-hands tasks Journal Article
In: Scientific Reports, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 9511, 2021, ISSN: 2045-2322.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags:
@article{noccaro_human_2021,
title = {Human performance in three-hands tasks},
author = {Alessia Noccaro and Jonathan Eden and Di Pino, Giovanni and Domenico Formica and Etienne Burdet},
url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-88862-9},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-021-88862-9},
issn = {2045-2322},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-12-01},
urldate = {2021-12-01},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
volume = {11},
number = {1},
pages = {9511},
abstract = {Abstract
The successful completion of complex tasks like hanging a picture or laparoscopic surgery requires coordinated motion of more than two limbs. User-controlled supernumerary robotic limbs (SL) have been proposed to bypass the need for coordination with a partner in such tasks. However, neither the capability to control multiple limbs alone relative to collaborative control with partners, nor how that capability varies across different tasks, is well understood. In this work, we present an investigation of tasks requiring three-hands where the foot was used as an additional source of motor commands. We considered: (1) how does simultaneous control of three hands compare to a cooperating dyad; (2) how this relative performance was altered by the existence of constraints emanating from real or virtual physical connections (
mechanical constraints
) or from cognitive limits (
cognitive constraints
). It was found that a cooperating dyad outperformed a single user in all scenarios in terms of task score, path efficiency and motion smoothness. However, while the participants were able to reach more targets with increasing mechanical constraints/decreasing number of simultaneous goals, the relative difference in performance between a dyad and a participant performing trimanual activities decreased, suggesting further potential for SLs in this class of scenario.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abstract
The successful completion of complex tasks like hanging a picture or laparoscopic surgery requires coordinated motion of more than two limbs. User-controlled supernumerary robotic limbs (SL) have been proposed to bypass the need for coordination with a partner in such tasks. However, neither the capability to control multiple limbs alone relative to collaborative control with partners, nor how that capability varies across different tasks, is well understood. In this work, we present an investigation of tasks requiring three-hands where the foot was used as an additional source of motor commands. We considered: (1) how does simultaneous control of three hands compare to a cooperating dyad; (2) how this relative performance was altered by the existence of constraints emanating from real or virtual physical connections (
mechanical constraints
) or from cognitive limits (
cognitive constraints
). It was found that a cooperating dyad outperformed a single user in all scenarios in terms of task score, path efficiency and motion smoothness. However, while the participants were able to reach more targets with increasing mechanical constraints/decreasing number of simultaneous goals, the relative difference in performance between a dyad and a participant performing trimanual activities decreased, suggesting further potential for SLs in this class of scenario.
The successful completion of complex tasks like hanging a picture or laparoscopic surgery requires coordinated motion of more than two limbs. User-controlled supernumerary robotic limbs (SL) have been proposed to bypass the need for coordination with a partner in such tasks. However, neither the capability to control multiple limbs alone relative to collaborative control with partners, nor how that capability varies across different tasks, is well understood. In this work, we present an investigation of tasks requiring three-hands where the foot was used as an additional source of motor commands. We considered: (1) how does simultaneous control of three hands compare to a cooperating dyad; (2) how this relative performance was altered by the existence of constraints emanating from real or virtual physical connections (
mechanical constraints
) or from cognitive limits (
cognitive constraints
). It was found that a cooperating dyad outperformed a single user in all scenarios in terms of task score, path efficiency and motion smoothness. However, while the participants were able to reach more targets with increasing mechanical constraints/decreasing number of simultaneous goals, the relative difference in performance between a dyad and a participant performing trimanual activities decreased, suggesting further potential for SLs in this class of scenario.
Huang, Yanpei; Eden, Jonathan; Ivanova, Ekaterina; Phee, Soo Jay; Burdet, Etienne
Trimanipulation: Evaluation of human performance in a 3-handed coordination task Inproceedings
In: 2021 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), pp. 882–887, IEEE, Melbourne, Australia, 2021, ISBN: 978-1-66544-207-7.
@inproceedings{huang_trimanipulation_2021,
title = {Trimanipulation: Evaluation of human performance in a 3-handed coordination task},
author = {Yanpei Huang and Jonathan Eden and Ekaterina Ivanova and Soo Jay Phee and Etienne Burdet},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9659027/},
doi = {10.1109/SMC52423.2021.9659027},
isbn = {978-1-66544-207-7},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-10-01},
urldate = {2022-06-02},
booktitle = {2021 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC)},
pages = {882--887},
publisher = {IEEE},
address = {Melbourne, Australia},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Huang, Yanpei; Lai, Wenjie; Cao, Lin; Liu, Jiajun; Li, Xiaoguo; Burdet, Etienne; Phee, Soo Jay
A Three-Limb Teleoperated Robotic System with Foot Control for Flexible Endoscopic Surgery Journal Article
In: Annals of Biomedical Engineering, vol. 49, no. 9, pp. 2282–2296, 2021, ISSN: 0090-6964, 1573-9686.
@article{huang_three-limb_2021,
title = {A Three-Limb Teleoperated Robotic System with Foot Control for Flexible Endoscopic Surgery},
author = {Yanpei Huang and Wenjie Lai and Lin Cao and Jiajun Liu and Xiaoguo Li and Etienne Burdet and Soo Jay Phee},
url = {https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10439-021-02766-3},
doi = {10.1007/s10439-021-02766-3},
issn = {0090-6964, 1573-9686},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-09-01},
urldate = {2022-06-02},
journal = {Annals of Biomedical Engineering},
volume = {49},
number = {9},
pages = {2282--2296},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Bräcklein, Mario; Ibáñez, Jaime; Barsakcioglu, Deren Y; Eden, Jonathan; Burdet, Etienne; Mehring, Carsten; Farina, Dario
The control and training of single motor units in isometric tasks are constrained by a common synaptic input signal Technical Report
Neuroscience 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags:
@techreport{bracklein_control_2021,
title = {The control and training of single motor units in isometric tasks are constrained by a common synaptic input signal},
author = {Mario Bräcklein and Jaime Ibáñez and Deren Y Barsakcioglu and Jonathan Eden and Etienne Burdet and Carsten Mehring and Dario Farina},
url = {http://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2021.08.03.454908},
doi = {10.1101/2021.08.03.454908},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-08-01},
urldate = {2022-06-02},
institution = {Neuroscience},
abstract = {Abstract Recent developments in neural interfaces enable the real-time and non-invasive tracking of motor neuron spiking activity. Such novel interfaces provide a promising basis for human motor augmentation by extracting potential high-dimensional control signals directly from the human nervous system. However, it is unclear how flexibly humans can control the activity of individual motor neurones to effectively increase the number of degrees-of-freedom available to coordinate multiple effectors simultaneously. Here, we provided human subjects (N=7) with real-time feedback on the discharge patterns of pairs of motor units (MUs) innervating a single muscle (tibialis anterior) and encouraged them to independently control the MUs by tracking targets in a 2D space. Subjects learned control strategies to achieve the target-tracking task for various combinations of MUs. These strategies rarely corresponded to a volitional control of independent input signals to individual MUs. Conversely, MU activation was consistent with a common input to the MU pair, while individual activation of the MUs in the pair was predominantly achieved by alterations in de-recruitment order that could be explained with history-dependent changes in motor neuron excitability. These results suggest that flexible MU control based on independent synaptic inputs to single MUs is not a simple to learn control strategy.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {techreport}
}
Abstract Recent developments in neural interfaces enable the real-time and non-invasive tracking of motor neuron spiking activity. Such novel interfaces provide a promising basis for human motor augmentation by extracting potential high-dimensional control signals directly from the human nervous system. However, it is unclear how flexibly humans can control the activity of individual motor neurones to effectively increase the number of degrees-of-freedom available to coordinate multiple effectors simultaneously. Here, we provided human subjects (N=7) with real-time feedback on the discharge patterns of pairs of motor units (MUs) innervating a single muscle (tibialis anterior) and encouraged them to independently control the MUs by tracking targets in a 2D space. Subjects learned control strategies to achieve the target-tracking task for various combinations of MUs. These strategies rarely corresponded to a volitional control of independent input signals to individual MUs. Conversely, MU activation was consistent with a common input to the MU pair, while individual activation of the MUs in the pair was predominantly achieved by alterations in de-recruitment order that could be explained with history-dependent changes in motor neuron excitability. These results suggest that flexible MU control based on independent synaptic inputs to single MUs is not a simple to learn control strategy.
Huang, Yanpei; Lai, Wenjie; Cao, Lin; Burdet, Etienne; Phee, Soo Jay
Design and Evaluation of a Foot-Controlled Robotic System for Endoscopic Surgery Journal Article
In: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 2469–2476, 2021, ISSN: 2377-3766, 2377-3774.
@article{huang_design_2021,
title = {Design and Evaluation of a Foot-Controlled Robotic System for Endoscopic Surgery},
author = {Yanpei Huang and Wenjie Lai and Lin Cao and Etienne Burdet and Soo Jay Phee},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9362198/},
doi = {10.1109/LRA.2021.3062009},
issn = {2377-3766, 2377-3774},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-01},
urldate = {2022-06-02},
journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
volume = {6},
number = {2},
pages = {2469--2476},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Pinardi, Mattia; Raiano, Luigi; Noccaro, Alessia; Formica, Domenico; Di Pino, Giovanni
Cartesian Space Feedback for Real Time Tracking of a Supernumerary Robotic Limb: a Pilot Study Inproceedings
In: 2021 10th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER), pp. 889–892, 2021.
@inproceedings{pinardi_cartesian_2021,
title = {Cartesian Space Feedback for Real Time Tracking of a Supernumerary Robotic Limb: a Pilot Study},
author = {Mattia Pinardi and Luigi Raiano and Alessia Noccaro and Domenico Formica and Di Pino, Giovanni},
doi = {10.1109/NER49283.2021.9441174},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-01},
urldate = {2021-01-01},
booktitle = {2021 10th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER)},
pages = {889--892},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2020
Noccaro, Alessia; Raiano, Luigi; Pinardi, Mattia; Formica, Domenico; Di Pino, Giovanni
A Novel Proprioceptive Feedback System for Supernumerary Robotic Limb Inproceedings
In: 2020 8th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob), pp. 1024–1029, 2020.
@inproceedings{noccaro_novel_2020,
title = {A Novel Proprioceptive Feedback System for Supernumerary Robotic Limb},
author = {Alessia Noccaro and Luigi Raiano and Mattia Pinardi and Domenico Formica and Di Pino, Giovanni},
doi = {10.1109/BioRob49111.2020.9224450},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
urldate = {2020-01-01},
booktitle = {2020 8th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)},
pages = {1024--1029},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Huang, Yanpei; Burdet, Etienne; Cao, Lin; Phan, Phuoc Thien; Tiong, Anthony Meng Huat; Phee, Soo Jay
A Subject-Specific Four-Degree-of-Freedom Foot Interface to Control a Surgical Robot Journal Article
In: IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 951-963, 2020.
@article{8950414,
title = {A Subject-Specific Four-Degree-of-Freedom Foot Interface to Control a Surgical Robot},
author = { Yanpei Huang and Etienne Burdet and Lin Cao and Phuoc Thien Phan and Anthony Meng Huat Tiong and Soo Jay Phee},
doi = {10.1109/TMECH.2020.2964295},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
journal = {IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics},
volume = {25},
number = {2},
pages = {951-963},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Huang, Yanpei; Eden, Jonathan; Cao, Lin; Burdet, Etienne; Phee, Soo Jay
Tri-Manipulation: An Evaluation of Human Performance in 3-Handed Teleoperation Journal Article
In: IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 545-548, 2020.
@article{9235524,
title = {Tri-Manipulation: An Evaluation of Human Performance in 3-Handed Teleoperation},
author = { Yanpei Huang and Jonathan Eden and Lin Cao and Etienne Burdet and Soo Jay Phee},
doi = {10.1109/TMRB.2020.3033137},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics},
volume = {2},
number = {4},
pages = {545-548},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}