1. We investigated the contribution of skin strain-related sensory inputs to movement perception and execution in five normal volunteers. The dorsal and palmar skin of the middle phalanx and the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint were manipulated to generate specific strain patterns in the proximal part of the index finger. To mask sensations directly related to this manipulation, skin and deeper tissues were blocked distal to the mid-portion of the proximal phalanx of the index finger by local anaesthesia. 2. Subjects were asked to move their normal right index finger either to mimic any perceived movements of the anaesthetized finger or to touch the tip of the insentient finger. 3. All subjects readily reproduced actual movements induced by the experimenter at the anaesthetized PIP joint. However, all subjects also generated flexion movements when the experimenter did not induce actual movement but produced deformations in the sentient proximal skin that were similar to those observed during actual PIP joint flexion. Likewise, the subjects indicated extension movement at the PIP joint when strain patterns corresponding to extension movements were induced. 4. In contrast, when the skin strain in the proximal part of the index finger was damped by a ring applied just proximal to the PIP joint within the anaesthetized skin area, both tested subjects failed to perceive PIP movements that actually took place. 5. It is concluded that (i) the brain's assessment of the position at finger joints may be determined by afferent signals generated as a result of movement-associated skin strain patterns, (ii) afferent signals originating in skin mechanoreceptors under certain circumstances have precedence over signals generated in mechanoreceptive muscle afferents with respect to the perception of movements and the control of motor behaviour, and (iii) skin strain may be perceived as joint movements rather than skin deformation.

Human grasping and manipulation control critically depends on tactile feedback. Without this feedback, the ability for fine control of a prosthesis is limited in upper limb amputees. Although various approaches have been investigated in the past, at present there is no commercially available device able to restore tactile feedback in upper limb amputees. Based on the Discrete Event-driven Sensory feedback Control (DESC) policy we present a device able to deliver short-lasting vibrotactile feedback to transradial amputees using commercially available myoelectric hands. The device (DESC-glove) comprises sensorized thimbles to be placed on the prosthesis digits, a battery-powered electronic board, and vibrating units embedded in an arm-cuff being transiently activated when the prosthesis makes and breaks contact with objects. The consequences of using the DESC-glove were evaluated in a longitudinal study. Five transradial amputees were equipped with the device for one month at home. Through a simple test proposed here for the first time-the virtual eggs test-we demonstrate the effectiveness of the device for prosthetic control in daily life conditions. In the future the device could be easily exploited as an add-on to complement myoelectric prostheses or even embedded in prosthetic sockets to enhance their control by upper limb amputees.

Strong motivation for developing new prosthetic hand devices is provided by the fact that low functionality and controllability-in addition to poor cosmetic appearance-are the most important reasons why amputees do not regularly use their prosthetic hands. This paper presents the design of the CyberHand, a cybernetic anthropomorphic hand intended to provide amputees with functional hand replacement. Its design was bio-inspired in terms of its modular architecture, its physical appearance, kinematics, sensorization, and actuation, and its multilevel control system. Its underactuated mechanisms allow separate control of each digit as well as thumb-finger opposition and, accordingly, can generate a multitude of grasps. Its sensory system was designed to provide proprioceptive information as well as to emulate fundamental functional properties of human tactile mechanoreceptors of specific importance for grasp-and-hold tasks. The CyberHand control system presumes just a few efferent and afferent channels and was divided in two main layers: a high-level control that interprets the user's intention (grasp selection and required force level) and can provide pertinent sensory feedback and a low-level control responsible for actuating specific grasps and applying the desired total force by taking advantage of the intelligent mechanics. The grasps made available by the high-level controller include those fundamental for activities of daily living: cylindrical, spherical, tridigital (tripod), and lateral grasps. The modular and flexible design of the CyberHand makes it suitable for incremental development of sensorization, interfacing, and control strategies and, as such, it will be a useful tool not only for clinical research but also for addressing neuroscientific hypotheses regarding sensorimotor control. ObjectivesA cybernetic hand is by definition connected by a neural interface to a human and thus makes it possible to exploit sensorimotor mechanisms for controlling hand actions. While the ultimate goal of the cybernetic prosthetic hand presented in this paper (CyberHand) is to allow human amputees dexterous sensorimotor control (Fig. 1)-via a neural interface that provides efferent commands to control the hand and sensory feedback from artificial sensors-this paper focuses on the bioinspired design of this hand.Within the foreseeable future, neural interfaces will allow only a limited number of channels for exchanging efferent and afferent signals with the central nervous system (CNS) of a human. The cybernetic hand presented in this paper overcomes this limitation by its mechanical design that allows hand preshaping and specific grasping forces on the basis of only a few efferent control signals. Moreover, the integrated design makes it possible to provide task-specific feedback by utilizing a few sensory channels.

SUMMARY1. Subjects lifted an object with two parallel vertical grip surfaces and a low centre of gravity using the precision grip between the tips of the thumb and index finger. The friction between the object and the digits was varied independently at each digit by changing the contact surfaces between lifts.2. With equal frictional conditions at the two grip surfaces, the finger-tip forces were about equal at the two digits, i.e. similar vertical lifting forces and grip forces were used. With different frictions, the digit touching the most slippery surface exerted less vertical lifting force than the digit in contact with the rougher surface. Thus, the safety margins against slips were similar at the two digits whether they made contact with surfaces of similar or different friction.3. During digital nerve block, large and variable safety margins were employed, i.e. the finger-tip forces did not reflect the surface conditions. Slips occurred more frequently than under normal conditions (14 % of all trials with nerve block, < 5 % during normal conditions), and they only occasionally elicited compensatory adjustments of the finger-tip forces and then at prolonged latencies.4. The partitioning of the vertical lifting force between the digits was thus dependent on digital afferent inputs and resulted from active automatic regulation and not just from the mechanics of the task.5. The safety margin employed at a particular digit was mainly determined by the frictional conditions encountered by the digit, and to a lesser degree by the surface condition at the same digit in the previous lift (anticipatory control), but was barely influenced by the surface condition at the other digit.6. It was concluded that the finger-tip forces were independently controlled for each digit according to a 'non-slip strategy'. The findings suggest that the force distribution among the digits represents a digit-specific lower-level neural control establishing a stable grasp. This control relies on digit-specific afferent inputs and somatosensory memory information. It is apparently subordinated to a higher-level control that is related to the total vertical lifting and normal forces required by the lifting task and the relevant physical properties of the manipulated object.

1. The movement sensitivity of dorsal skin mechanoreceptors in the human hand was studied by the use of single afferent recording techniques. 2. Units were classified as slowly (SA) and fast adapting (FA) and further characterized by thresholds to vertical indentation and by receptive-field sizes. Whereas SA units were evenly distributed within the supply area of the superficial branch of the radial nerve. FA units were usually situated near joints. 3. The proportion of different receptor types (32% SAI, 32% SAII, 28% FAI, 8% FAII; n = 107) compared favorably with previous electrophysiological and anatomic data, arguing for minimal sampling bias. The majority of the skin mechanoreceptive units were SA, largely due to a relative scarcity of FAII [Pacinian corpuscles (PC)] units. 4. A large majority (92%) of the afferents responded to active hand or finger movements. Responses in all unit types were consistent with observed movement-induced deformations of their receptive fields. 5. FAI units responded bidirectionally, albeit usually with somewhat higher discharge frequencies for finger flexion, which in most cases were associated with skin stretch. FAI units showed meager responses to remote stimuli, typically responding to one or, at the most, two adjacent joints. 6. SA units typically showed simple directional responses to joint movements with an increased discharge during flexion and a reduced discharge during extension. Joint movement that influenced the skin within the receptive field of SA units elicited graded responses even if the field, as assessed by perpendicular indentations, was minute. This finding suggests that definition of cutaneous receptive fields by classical perpendicular indentations may be inappropriate for the receptors in the hairy, nonglabrous skin. 7. The interpretation of the data from these recordings suggests that cutaneous mechanoreceptors in the dorsal skin can provide the CNS with detailed kinematic information, at least for movements of the hand.