We wanted to study the ability of our brains and bodies to be augmented by supernumerary robot limbs, here extra fingers. We developed a mechanically highly functional supernumerary robotic 3 rd thumb actuator, the SR3T, and interfaced it with human users enabling them to play the piano with 11 fingers. We devised a set of measurement protocols and behavioural "biomarkers", the Human Augmentation Motor Coordination Assessment (HAMCA), which allowed us a priori to predict how well each individual human user could, after training, play the piano with a two-thumbs-hand. To evaluate augmented music playing ability we devised a simple musical score, as well as metrics for assessing the accuracy of playing the score. We evaluated the SR3T (supernumerary robotic 3 rd thumb) on 12 human subjects including 6 naïve and 6 experienced piano players. We demonstrated that humans can learn to play the piano with a 6-fingered hand within one hour of training. For each subject we could predict individually, based solely on their HAMCA performance before training, how well they were able to perform with the extra robotic thumb, after training (training end-point performance). Our work demonstrates the feasibility of robotic human augmentation with supernumerary robotic limbs within short time scales. We show how linking the neuroscience of motor learning with dexterous robotics and human-robot interfacing can be used to inform a priori how far individual motor impaired patients or healthy manual workers could benefit from robotic augmentation solutions.
Contemporary robotics gives us mechatronic capabilities for augmenting human bodies with extra limbs. However, how our motor control capabilities pose limits on such augmentation is an open question. We developed a Supernumerary Robotic 3rd Thumbs (SR3T) with two degrees-of-freedom controlled by the user’s body to endow them with an extra contralateral thumb on the hand. We demonstrate that a pianist can learn to play the piano with 11 fingers within an hour. We then evaluate 6 naïve and 6 experienced piano players in their prior motor coordination and their capability in piano playing with the robotic augmentation. We show that individuals’ augmented performance with the SR3T could be explained by our new custom motor coordination assessment, the Human Augmentation Motor Coordination Assessment (HAMCA) performed pre-augmentation. Our work demonstrates how supernumerary robotics can augment humans in skilled tasks and that individual differences in their augmentation capability are explainable by their individual motor coordination abilities.
3D-printing technologies have greatly influenced the field of fabrication of medical devices. In particular, Fused Deposition Modeling 3D printing has emerged as one the most popular and most promising technologies for fabricating upper-limb prostheses. Over the last years, a variety of types and designs of 3D-printed hand prostheses have been created and are commercially available. However, there are no standards or established procedures for testing these devices. Available information regarding their long-term performance and functionality is very limited. This paper presents a case study of mechanical testing methods applied to a specific design of an upper-limb prosthesis. The device and its subassemblies were subjected to flexion test in hyperextension and abduction conditions, fatigue/wear test, and tensile test. The experimental results are presented and examined. Testing procedures, adaptations and recommendations are described and discussed to demonstrate ways of generating reliable data that serve for comparison among different hand prostheses designs.
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