Speakers

Ganesh Gowrishankar

CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory
Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics and Microelectronics of Montpellier

Robots extending human bodies: New challenges for robot control and neuroscience.

Over the last three decades, robots that used to be behind cages in industries, have come increasingly closer to humans. We are now at a stage where robots are starting to change the human body, providing functional and sensory augmentation- in the form of exoskeletons, and robotic limbs as prosthetics or supernumerary limbs. This new generation of human-robot interaction comes with new challenges for robot control and neuroscience. For robot control, the issue of understanding the user intention and human perception of the robot becomes critical due to the inevitable proximity of the robot with the human. For neuroscience, these robots modify the human perception of their ‘self’, and their ‘embodiment’ is known to affect human perception of thier body, as well as the environment around them. How and to what extent, this in turn affects the human behavior and cognition still remains an open question. In this talk I will discuss about some of the robotics and neuroscientific experiments we are conducting to understand these issues and towards the development of robot controllers that understand the human user, and which will be crucial for the control of these new devices.

Bio

By studying the neural correlates of robotic hand augmentation, we are exploring the boundaries of neuroplasticity seeing how it can be harnessed to improve the usability and control of augmentation devices. Dani Clode – designer of the Third Thumb, and Tamar Makin – leader of the London Plasticity Lab, each discuss their research and perspectives within the field of prosthetics that has led to this unique collaboration and exploration of motor augmentation in the brain.

Tamar Makin is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University College London, UK and leader of the Plasticity Lab. Her main interest is in understanding how our body representation changes in the brain (brain plasticity). Her primary model for this work is studying individuals with a hand loss. Tamar graduated from the Brain and Behavioural Sciences programme at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2009. She was then awarded several career development fellowships to establish her research programme on brain plasticity in amputees at the University of Oxford, first as Research Fellow and later as a Principle Investigator. In 2016 Tamar joined the faculty of UCL to continue this work. She is currently supported by the European Research Council (Starting Grant) and the Wellcome Trust (Senior Research Fellow). 

Dani Clode is an upper-limb prosthetic, augmentation and product designer, the founder of Dani Clode Design and a Senior Research Technician at the Plasticity Lab. Dani has a multi-disciplinary approach to her work that investigates the future architecture and perception of our bodies. Incorporating new materials and design processes, the mechanics of the human body and robotics, Dani works to challenge the perception and boundaries of prosthetic design and extend the human form. Alongside neuroscience research with the Plasticity Lab, Dani’s Third Thumb augmentation and prosthetic work has been exhibited world-wide, including four permanent museum displays – in the German Museum of Technology, Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, Futurium Berlin and the National Museum of Scotland. 

Abstract

Bio

Occupational exoskeletons are personal assistive devices that can reduce the physical load on workers performing demanding activities, by acting synergistically with its user. OEs can employ passive actuation mechanisms that re-distribute the load on the user’s body, or active systems that provide net mechanical power to support the user’s movement. In this talk, I will discuss the main biomechanical and safety requirements that drove the design of an upper-limb spring-loaded exoskeleton (mate.comau.com) and its validation path. Also, I will introduce and discuss the main challenges in designing active exoskeletons with a focus on real-time adaptive control strategies.

Simona Crea received her Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pisa in 2012, and her Ph.D. in Biorobotics from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, in December 2015. Since April 2017 she has been an Assistant Professor at The BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, where she works on wearable robotics. Her research interests include the development and experimental validation of control strategies for exoskeletons to assist movements in rehabilitation, workplace scenarios, and daily-life activities. Currently, she is the Scientific Coordinator of the HABILIS project (funded by INAIL, the Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work), whose goal is to develop a novel exoskeleton for the orthopedic rehabilitation of the hand in patients who suffered a workplace injury. She serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters and Wearable Technologies (Cambridge University Press), and has served as Guest Editor for different special issues on robotics journals. She is a co-founder and advisor for scientific investigations of the spin-off company IUVO (www.iuvo.company).

Soft wearable exosuits have been introduced in the last decade as possible candidates to overcome the limitations from devices using rigid structures: the exoskeletons. Despite the Exosuits initially promised tangible improvements, yet their soft wearable architecture presents strong drawbacks, placing this technology more in a complementary position rather than on a higher step of the podium respect to their predecessors. Motivations can be found in their soft structure which not only undershoots in terms of assistance delivery respect to the exoskeletons, but also introduces non-linear dynamic behaviours making difficult the formalization of a robust control implementation and substantially hampering the matching with the wearer’s biomechanics. During my speech I will introduce the progress from our research on soft wearable exosuits for upper limb, by presenting novel solutions on mechanical design of both harness and actuation, novel implementation of control strategies to master the non-linear behaviours and to provide a more symbiotic interface between the exosuits and the wearer.

Lorenzo Masia graduated in Mechanical Engineering at “Sapienza” University of Rome in 2003 and in 2007. He accomplished his PhD in “Mechanical Measurement for Engineering” at the University of Padua. He started his path in robotics spending two years at the Mechanical Engineering Dept. of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (from Jan- 2005 to Dec 2006) working at the Newman Lab for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation. He was then postdoctoral researcher and team leader at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the Robotics Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, and He started his academic path as Assistant Professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) of Singapore (2013-2018). He was Associate Professor in Biodesign at the Department of Biomechanical Engineering of the University of Twente (The Netherlands) from June 2018 to March 2019. Now, since April 2019, He is Full Professor in Medical Technology at Heidelberg University (Germany) at the Institute of Computer Engineering or Institut für Technische Informatik (ZITI), leading the ARIES Lab (Assistive Robotics and Interactive ExoSuits). With more than 15 years of experience in the field of Haptics, Robot-Aided Rehabilitation and Wearable Technology, Professor Masia and his team were awarded multiple times in the leading conference in Biorobotics and Robotic Rehabilitation winning an IEEE Best Paper Award (IEEE ICORR2011), two IEEE Best Student Paper Awards (IEEE ICORR2015 and IEEE Biorob2016) and the IEEE Best Presentation Award (IEEE Biorob2020). He has been appointed three times Program Chair for the IEEE International Conference in Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) 2015, IEEE Biorobotics and Biomechatronic Conference (BIOROB) 2016 and International Conference on Neurorehabilitation (ICNR 2018). He served as Chairman for Workshop/Tutorial for the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (IEEE ICRA 2017), and He was the Co-Program Chair of IEEE ICORR 2017 (London, UK), and Co-Program Chair, Editor in Chief and Editor of Publication for IEEE Biorob 2018. He currently serves as Associate Editor for IEEE TNSRE, IEEE RAL, JNER and WEARABLE TECHNOLOGIES.

Divya Srinivasan

Virginia Tech
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

The human physical experience in a whole-body powered exoskeleton: an examination of physical demands, movement strategies, and human-robot synchrony

Sascha Wischniewski and Patricia Rosen

German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Baua)
Department of Human Factors, Ergonomics

Human-Robot Interaction and Occupational Safety and Health: What we know for the human-centered deployment of collaborative robotic systems

Jose Gonzalez and Jonas Bornmann

Ottobock SE & Co. KGaAs

Design perspectives and opportunities of industrial exoskeletons