Uneven Terrain Recognition Using Neuromorphic Haptic Feedback.

Recent years have witnessed relevant advancements in the quality of life of persons with lower limb amputations thanks to the technological developments in prosthetics. However, prostheses that provide information about the foot-ground interaction, and in particular about terrain irregularities, are still missing on the market. The lack of tactile feedback from the foot sole might lead subjects to step on uneven terrains, causing an increase in the risk of falling. To address this issue, a biomimetic vibrotactile feedback system that conveys information about gait and terrain features sensed by a dedicated insole has been assessed with intact subjects. After having shortly experienced both even and uneven terrains, the recruited subjects discriminated them with an accuracy of 87.5%, solely relying on the replay of the vibrotactile feedback. With the objective of exploring the human decoding mechanism of the feedback startegy, a KNN classifier was trained to recognize the uneven terrains. The outcome suggested that the subjects achieved such performance with a temporal dynamics of 45 ms. This work is a leap forward to assist lower-limb amputees to appreciate the floor conditions while walking, adapt their gait and promote a more confident use of their artificial limb.

A Multi-Parametric Wearable System to Monitor Neck Movements and Respiratory Frequency of Computer Workers.

Musculoskeletal disorders are the most common form of occupational ill-health. Neck pain is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal disorders experienced by computer workers. Wrong postural habits and non-compliance of the workstation to ergonomics guidelines are the leading causes of neck pain. These factors may also alter respiratory functions. Health and safety interventions can reduce neck pain and, more generally, the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders and reduce the consequent economic burden. In this work, a multi-parametric wearable system based on two fiber Bragg grating sensors is proposed for monitoring neck movements and breathing activity of computer workers. The sensing elements were positioned on the neck, in the frontal and sagittal planes, to monitor: (i) flexion-extension and axial rotation repetitions, and (ii) respiratory frequency. In this pilot study, five volunteers were enrolled and performed five repetitions of both flexion-extension and axial rotation, and ten breaths of both quite breathing and tachypnea. Results showed the good performances of the proposed system in monitoring the aforementioned parameters when compared to optical reference systems. The wearable system is able to well-match the trend in time of the neck movements (both flexion-extension and axial rotation) and to estimate mean and breath-by-breath respiratory frequency values with percentage errors ≤6.09% and ≤1.90%, during quiet breathing and tachypnea, respectively.

Haptic Glove and Platform with Gestural Control For Neuromorphic Tactile Sensory Feedback In Medical Telepresence †.

Advancements in the study of the human sense of touch are fueling the field of haptics. This is paving the way for augmenting sensory perception during object palpation in tele-surgery and reproducing the sensed information through tactile feedback. Here, we present a novel tele-palpation apparatus that enables the user to detect nodules with various distinct stiffness buried in an ad-hoc polymeric phantom. The contact force measured by the platform was encoded using a neuromorphic model and reproduced on the index fingertip of a remote user through a haptic glove embedding a piezoelectric disk. We assessed the effectiveness of this feedback in allowing nodule identification under two experimental conditions of real-time telepresence: In Line of Sight (ILS), where the platform was placed in the visible range of a user; and the more demanding Not In Line of Sight (NILS), with the platform and the user being 50 km apart. We found that the entailed percentage of identification was higher for stiffer inclusions with respect to the softer ones (average of 74% within the duration of the task), in both telepresence conditions evaluated. These promising results call for further exploration of tactile augmentation technology for telepresence in medical interventions.

Cardio-Respiratory Monitoring in Archery Using a Smart Textile Based on Flexible Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors.

In precision sports, the control of breathing and heart rate is crucial to help the body to remain stable in the shooting position. To improve stability, archers try to adopt similar breathing patterns and to have a low heartbeat during each shot. We proposed an easy-to-use and unobtrusive smart textile (ST) which is able to detect chest wall excursions due to breathing and heart beating. The sensing part is based on two FBGs housed into a soft polymer matrix to optimize the adherence to the chest wall and the system robustness. The ST was assessed on volunteers to figure out its performance in the estimation of respiratory frequency (fR) and heart rate (HR). Then, the system was tested on two archers during four shooting sessions. This is the first study to monitor cardio-respiratory activity on archers during shooting. The good performance of the ST is supported by the low mean absolute percentage error for fR and HR estimation (≤1.97% and ≤5.74%, respectively), calculated with respect to reference signals (flow sensor for fR, photopletismography sensor for HR). Moreover, results showed the capability of the ST to estimate fR and HR during different phases of shooting action. The promising results motivate future investigations to speculate about the influence of fR and HR on archers' performance.

Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Applications.

We present a tactile telepresence system for real-time transmission of information about object stiffness to the human fingertips. Experimental tests were performed across two laboratories (Italy and Ireland). In the Italian laboratory, a mechatronic sensing platform indented different rubber samples. Information about rubber stiffness was converted into on-off events using a neuronal spiking model and sent to a vibrotactile glove in the Irish laboratory. Participants discriminated the variation of the stiffness of stimuli according to a two-alternative forced choice protocol. Stiffness discrimination was based on the variation of the temporal pattern of spikes generated during the indentation of the rubber samples. The results suggest that vibrotactile stimulation can effectively simulate surface stiffness when using neuronal spiking models to trigger vibrations in the haptic interface. Specifically, fractional variations of stiffness down to 0.67 were significantly discriminated with the developed neuromorphic haptic interface. This is a performance comparable, though slightly worse, to the threshold obtained in a benchmark experiment evaluating the same set of stimuli naturally with the own hand. Our paper presents a bioinspired method for delivering sensory feedback about object properties to human skin based on contingency-mimetic neuronal models, and can be useful for the design of high performance haptic devices.

A meta-learning algorithm for respiratory flow prediction from FBG-based wearables in unrestrained conditions.

The continuous monitoring of an individual's breathing can be an instrument for the assessment and enhancement of human wellness. Specific respiratory features are unique markers of the deterioration of a health condition, the onset of a disease, fatigue and stressful circumstances. The early and reliable prediction of high-risk situations can result in the implementation of appropriate intervention strategies that might be lifesaving. Hence, smart wearables for the monitoring of continuous breathing have recently been attracting the interest of many researchers and companies. However, most of the existing approaches do not provide comprehensive respiratory information. For this reason, a meta-learning algorithm based on LSTM neural networks for inferring the respiratory flow from a wearable system embedding FBG sensors and inertial units is herein proposed. Different conventional machine learning approaches were implemented as well to ultimately compare the results. The meta-learning algorithm turned out to be the most accurate in predicting respiratory flow when new subjects are considered. Furthermore, the LSTM model memory capability has been proven to be advantageous for capturing relevant aspects of the breathing pattern. The algorithms were tested under different conditions, both static and dynamic, and with more unobtrusive device configurations. The meta-learning results demonstrated that a short one-time calibration may provide subject-specific models which predict the respiratory flow with high accuracy, even when the number of sensors is reduced. Flow RMS errors on the test set ranged from 22.03 L/min, when the minimum number of sensors was considered, to 9.97 L/min for the complete setting (target flow range: 69.231 ± 21.477 L/min). The correlation coefficient r between the target and the predicted flow changed accordingly, being higher (r = 0.9) for the most comprehensive and heterogeneous wearable device configuration. Similar results were achieved even with simpler settings which included the thoracic sensors (r ranging from 0.84 to 0.88; test flow RMSE = 10.99 L/min, when exclusively using the thoracic FBGs). The further estimation of respiratory parameters, i.e., rate and volume, with low errors across different breathing behaviors and postures proved the potential of such approach. These findings lay the foundation for the implementation of reliable custom solutions and more sophisticated artificial intelligence-based algorithms for daily life health-related applications.

Increased Symmetry of Lower-Limb Amputees Walking With Concurrent Bilateral Vibrotactile Feedback.

Gait asymmetry in lower-limb amputees can lead to several secondary conditions that can decrease general health and quality of life. Including augmented sensory feedback in rehabilitation programs can effectively mitigate spatiotemporal gait irregularities. Such benefits can be obtained with non-invasive haptic systems representing an advantageous choice for usability in overground training and every-day life. In this study, we tested a wearable tactile feedback device delivering short-lasting (100ms) vibrations around the waist syncronized to gait events, to improve the temporal gait symmetry of lower-limb amputees. Three above-knee amputees participated in the study. The device provided bilateral stimulations during a training program that involved ground-level gait training. After three training sessions, participants showed higher temporal symmetry when walking with the haptic feedback in comparison to their natural walking (resulting symmetry index increases of +2.8% for Subject IDA, +12.7% for Subject IDB and +2.9% for Subject IDC). One subject retained improved symmetry (Subject IDB,+14.9%) even when walking without the device. Gait analyses revealed that higher temporal symmetry may lead to concurrent compensation strategies in the trunk and pelvis. Overall, the results of this pilot study confirm the potential utility of sensory feedback devices to positively influence gait parameters when used in supervised settings. Future studies shall clarify more precisely the training modalities and the targets of rehabilitation programs with such devices.