Elia Gatti

Improving manual skills in persons with disabilities (PWD) through a multimodal assistance system.

Abstract In this research work, we present a Multimodal Guidance System (MGS) whose aim is to provide dynamic assistance to persons with disabilities (PWD) while performing manual activities such as drawing, coloring in and foam-cutting tasks. The MGS provides robotic assistance in the execution of 2D tasks through haptic and sound interactions. Haptic technology provides the virtual path of 2D shapes through the point-based approach, while sound technology provides audio feedback inputs related to the hand’s velocity while sketching and filling or cutting operations. By combining this Multimodal System with the haptic assistance, we have created a new approach with possible applications to such diverse fields as physical rehabilitation, scientific investigation of sensorimotor learning and assessment of hand movements in PWD. The MGS has been tested by people with specific disorders affecting coordination, such as Down syndrome and developmental disabilities, under the supervision of their teachers and care assistants inside their learning environment. A Graphic User Interface has been designed for teachers and care assistants in order to provide training during the test sessions. Our results provide conclusive evidence that the effect of using the MGS increases the accuracy in the tasks operations. Implications for Rehabilitation The Multimodal Guidance System (MGS) is an interface that offers haptic and sound feedback while performing manual tasks. Several studies demonstrated that the haptic guidance systems can help people in recovering cognitive function at different levels of complexity and impairment. The applications supported by our device could also have an important role in supporting physical therapist and cognitive psychologist in helping patients to recover motor and visuo-spatial abilities.

Multimodal guidance system for improving manual skills in disabled people

The paper describes a multimodal guidance system whose aim is to improve manual skills of people with specific disorders, such as Down syndrome, mental retardation, blind, autistic, etc. The multimodal guidance system provides assistance in the execution of 2D tasks as for example: sketching, hatching and cutting operations through haptic and sound interactions. The haptic technology provides the virtual path of 2D shapes through the point-based approach, while sound technology provides some audio feedback inputs about his or her actions while performing a manual task as for example: start and/or finish an sketch; some alarms related to the hands velocity while sketching and filling or cutting operations. Unskilled people use these interfaces in their educational environment.

Virtualization of Industrial Consumer Products for Haptic Interaction Design

The haptic feedback perceived during the interaction with consumer products is an important aspect since it concurs in creating, together with the aesthetic features and sonic feedback, the emotional response during the first contacts with a product. And this may be decisive for the user’s decision of purchasing a product instead of another one. So the design of the haptic behavior of interaction elements of products can be both a successful strategy for capturing consumers’ attention but even a need for avoiding problems during the use. The paper describes the process of virtualization of the interaction with an industrial consumer product by means of haptic, sound and visualization technologies in order to obtain a prototype (interactive Virtual Prototypes) useful to design and test the haptic feedback of interaction elements directly with end users.Copyright

Pantograph mechanism for increasing the working area in a haptic guidance device for sketching, hatching and cutting tasks

The paper presents the design, construction, validation and testing of a Haptic Guidance Device whose aim is to provide dynamic assistance while performing manual activities such as drawing, hatching and cutting. A commercial phantom haptic device was modified by adding a pantograph mechanism in order to increase the haptic working area. The force feedback workspace provided by the phantom device is quite limited, 160 W × 120 H mm. This workspace sometimes is not enough to reproduce manual tasks in a large-scale area as is often required in several educational activities (e.g. sketching, hatching and cutting tasks). In this paper is evaluated a low cost solution for increasing the haptic working area provided by the phantom device. The pantograph mechanism has been linked with the haptic device in order to increase the working area in a 2:1 scale. The users hand moves a pen linked to the device through 2D predefined shapes in which the pens position have been tracked in 2D coordinates at 25 kHz in order to record all the data for the posterior analysis. The haptic guidance device is also equipped with a cutting system using hot wire for physically producing the drawn shape as a piece of polystyrene foam. The haptic guidance device has been tested by people with specific disorders affecting coordination such as Down syndrome and mental retardation under the supervision of their teachers and care assistants. The results of the study prove that higher performance levels can be achieved while performing manual tasks as sketching, hatching and cutting operation using the haptic guidance device.Copyright

Study on the usability of a haptic menu for 3D interaction

The choice of the interaction menu to use is an important aspect for the usability of an application. In these years, different solutions, related to menu shape, location and interaction modalities have been proposed. This paper investigates the influence of haptic features on the usability of 3D menu. We have developed a haptic menu for a specific workbench, which integrates stereoscopic visualization and haptic interaction. Several versions of this menu have been developed with the aim of performing testing sessions with users. The results of these tests have been discussed to highlight the impact that these features have on the users learning capabilities.