Publications

@article{ofner_mental_2023,

title = {Mental Tasks Modulate Motor-Units Above 10 Hz and are a Potential Control Signal for Movement Augmentation: a Preliminary Study},

author = { Patrick Ofner and Meng-Jung Lee and Dario Farina and Carsten Mehring},

doi = {10.1109/EMBC40787.2023.10340378},

issn = {2694-0604},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-07-01},

journal = {Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference},

volume = {2023},

pages = {1–4},

abstract = {Spinal motor neurons receive a wide range of input frequencies. However, only frequencies below ca. 10 Hz are directly translated into motor output. Frequency components above 10 Hz are filtered out by neural pathways and muscle dynamics. These higher frequency components may have an indirect effect on motor output, or may simply represent movement-independent oscillations that leak down from supraspinal areas such as the motor cortex. If movement-independent oscillations leak down from supraspinal areas, they could provide a potential control signal in movement augmentation applications. We analysed high-density electromyography (HD-EMG) signals from the tibialis anterior muscle while human subjects performed various mental tasks. The subjects performed an isometric dorsiflexion of the right foot at a low level of force while simultaneously (1) imagining a movement of the right foot, (2) imagining a movement of both hands, (3) performing a mathematical task, or (4) performing no additional task. We classified the channel-averaged HD-EMG signals and the cumulative spike train (CST) of motor-units using a filter bank and a linear classifier. We found that in some subjects, the mental task can be classified from the channel-averaged HD-EMG signals and the CST in oscillations above 10 Hz. Furthermore, we found that these oscillation modulations are incompatible with a systematic and task-dependent change in force level. Our preliminary findings from a limited number of subjects suggest that some mental task-induced oscillations from supraspinal areas leak down to spinal motor neurons and are discriminable via EMG or CST signals at the innervated muscle.},

keywords = {Electromyography, Foot, Humans, Motor Neurons, Movement, Muscle, Skeletal},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@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},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-04-01},

urldate = {2022-06-02},

journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},

volume = {6},

number = {2},

pages = {2469–2476},

abstract = {In traditional endoscopic surgery, the surgeon manipulating the endoscopic instruments is supported by an assistant controlling the endoscope, where their coordination may be affected by communication errors. To address this issue, we introduce a foot interface controlled robotic endoscopic system, enabling the surgeon to simultaneously operate the endoscope and instruments. The system consists of a foot interface using four degrees of freedom (DoFs) foot gestures and a robotic driving system for a commercial flexible endoscope. The proposed robotic system was validated in teleoperation experiments performed by ten subjects, where foot teleoperation was compared with hand teleoperation and direct control of the endoscope with two hands. The participants could successfully teleoperate the endoscope with foot teleoperation and exhibited 40% faster task completion as with direct control. They found both foot and hand teleoperations comfortable and intuitive. Although hand teleoperation enabled the best performance, only foot teleoperation allows simultaneous control of three instruments.},

note = {Conference Name: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},

keywords = {Bending, Endoscope manipulation, Endoscopes, Foot, foot control, Instruments, Robot kinematics, robot-assisted surgery, Robots, Surgery, teleoperation},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}