Shunta Togo

Motor synergies for dampening hand vibration during human walking.

This study investigated the motion required to carry a cup filled with water without spilling it, which is a common human dexterous task. This task requires the individual to dampen hand vibration while walking. We hypothesize that a reduction in hand jerk and a constant cup angle are required to achieve this task. We measured movements while human subjects carried a cup with water (WW task) and with stones (WS task) using a three-dimensional position measurement system and then analyzed joint coordination. We empirically confirmed that the value of hand jerk and the variance in cup angle in the WW task were smaller than those in the WS task. We used uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analysis to quantify joint coordination corresponding to the motor synergy required to reduce the hand jerk and variance of the cup angle. UCM components, which did not affect the hand jerk and cup angle, were larger than orthogonal components, which directly affected the hand jerk and cup angle in the WW task. These results suggest that there is a coordinated control mechanism that reduces hand jerk and maintains a constant cup angle when carrying a cup filled with water without spilling it. In addition, we suggest that humans adopt a flexible and coordinated control strategy of allowing variance independent of the variables that should be controlled to achieve this dexterous task.

Anticipatory synergy adjustments reflect individual performance of feedforward force control.

We grasp and dexterously manipulate an object through multi-digit synergy. In the framework of the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis, multi-digit synergy is defined as the coordinated control mechanism of fingers to stabilize variable important for task success, e.g., total force. Previous studies reported anticipatory synergy adjustments (ASAs) that correspond to a drop of the synergy index before a quick change of the total force. The present study compared ASAs properties with individual performances of feedforward force control to investigate a relationship of those. Subjects performed a total finger force production task that consisted of a phase in which subjects tracked target line with visual information and a phase in which subjects produced total force pulse without visual information. We quantified their multi-digit synergy through UCM analysis and observed significant ASAs before producing total force pulse. The time of the ASA initiation and the magnitude of the drop of the synergy index were significantly correlated with the error of force pulse, but not with the tracking error. Almost all subjects showed a significant increase of the variance that affected the total force. Our study directly showed that ASA reflects the individual performance of feedforward force control independently of target-tracking performance and suggests that the multi-digit synergy was weakened to adjust the multi-digit movements based on a prediction error so as to reduce the future error.

Change of a motor synergy for dampening hand vibration depending on a task difficulty

The present study investigated the relationship between the number of usable degrees of freedom (DOFs) and joint coordination during a human-dampening hand vibration task. Participants stood on a platform generating an anterior–posterior directional oscillation and held a water-filled cup. Their usable DOFs were changed under the following conditions of limb constraint: (1) no constraint; (2) ankle constrained; and (3) ankle–knee constrained. Kinematic whole-body data were recorded using a three-dimensional position measurement system. The jerk of each body part was evaluated as an index of oscillation intensity. To quantify joint coordination, an uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analysis was applied and the variance of joints related to hand jerk divided into two components: a UCM component that did not affect hand jerk and an orthogonal (ORT) component that directly affected hand jerk. The results showed that hand jerk when the task used a cup filled with water was significantly smaller than when a cup containing stones was used, regardless of limb constraint condition. Thus, participants dampened their hand vibration utilizing usable joint DOFs. According to UCM analysis, increasing the oscillation velocity and the decrease in usable DOFs by the limb constraints led to an increase of total variance of the joints and the UCM component, indicating that a synergy-dampening hand vibration was enhanced. These results show that the variance of usable joint DOFs is more fitted to the UCM subspace when the joints are varied by increasing the velocity and limb constraints and suggest that humans adopt enhanced synergies to achieve more difficult tasks.

Control strategy of hand movement depends on target redundancy

Reaching toward a point target has been intensively studied in human motor control. However, little is known about reaching toward a redundant target, such as grasping a bar, in which the grasping point is irrelevant to the achievement of a task. We examined whether humans could solve the target-redundancy and control problems in a serial fashion or control their body without solving the target-redundancy problem. We equalized the target ranges between two reaching tasks: a point-to-point reaching task without target-redundancy and a point-to-bar reaching task with target-redundancy. In the both tasks, we measured hand viscoelasticity at movement end as parameters that reflect the adopted control strategy. As a result, the hand viscoelasticity in the point-to-bar reaching task was smaller than that in the point-to-point reaching task, even under the same kinematics. These results indicate that the hand viscoelasticity was modulated depending on the target-redundancy. Moreover, it is suggested that a human reaches toward a redundant target by effectively utilizing information of target redundancy rather than explicitly solving the target-redundancy problem.

Changes in motor synergies for tracking movement and responses to perturbations depend on task-irrelevant dimension constraints.

We investigated the changes in the motor synergies of target-tracking movements of hands and the responses to perturbation when the dimensionalities of target positions were changed. We used uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analyses to quantify the motor synergies. The target was changed from one to two dimensions, and the direction orthogonal to the movement direction was switched from task-irrelevant directions to task-relevant directions. The movement direction was task-relevant in both task conditions. Hence, we evaluated the effects of constraints on the redundant dimensions on movement tracking. Moreover, we could compare the two types of responses to the same directional perturbations in one- and two-dimensional target tasks. In the one-dimensional target task, the perturbation along the movement direction and the orthogonal direction were task-relevant and -irrelevant perturbations, respectively. In the two-dimensional target task, the both perturbations were task-relevant perturbations. The results of the experiments showed that the variabilities of the hand positions in the two-dimensional target-tracking task decreased, but the variances of the joint angles did not significantly change. For the task-irrelevant perturbations, the variances of the joint angles within the UCM that did not affect hand position (UCM component) increased. For the task-relevant perturbations, the UCM component tended to increase when the available UCM was large. These results suggest that humans discriminate whether the perturbations were task-relevant or -irrelevant and then adjust the responses of the joints by utilizing the available UCM.

Uncontrolled Manifold Reference Feedback Control of Multi-Joint Robot Arms

The brain must coordinate with redundant bodies to perform motion tasks. The aim of the present study is to propose a novel control model that predicts the characteristics of human joint coordination at a behavioral level. To evaluate the joint coordination, an uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analysis that focuses on the trial-to-trial variance of joints has been proposed. The UCM is a nonlinear manifold associated with redundant kinematics. In this study, we directly applied the notion of the UCM to our proposed control model called the “UCM reference feedback control.” To simplify the problem, the present study considered how the redundant joints were controlled to regulate a given target hand position. We considered a conventional method that pre-determined a unique target joint trajectory by inverse kinematics or any other optimization method. In contrast, our proposed control method generates a UCM as a control target at each time step. The target UCM is a subspace of joint angles whose variability does not affect the hand position. The joint combination in the target UCM is then selected so as to minimize the cost function, which consisted of the joint torque and torque change. To examine whether the proposed method could reproduce human-like joint coordination, we conducted simulation and measurement experiments. In the simulation experiments, a three-link arm with a shoulder, elbow, and wrist regulates a one-dimensional target of a hand through proposed method. In the measurement experiments, subjects performed a one-dimensional target-tracking task. The kinematics, dynamics, and joint coordination were quantitatively compared with the simulation data of the proposed method. As a result, the UCM reference feedback control could quantitatively reproduce the difference of the mean value for the end hand position between the initial postures, the peaks of the bell-shape tangential hand velocity, the sum of the squared torque, the mean value for the torque change, the variance components, and the index of synergy as well as the human subjects. We concluded that UCM reference feedback control can reproduce human-like joint coordination. The inference for motor control of the human central nervous system based on the proposed method was discussed.

Normalized Index of Synergy for Evaluating the Coordination of Motor Commands

Humans perform various motor tasks by coordinating the redundant motor elements in their bodies. The coordination of motor outputs is produced by motor commands, as well properties of the musculoskeletal system. The aim of this study was to dissociate the coordination of motor commands from motor outputs. First, we conducted simulation experiments where the total elbow torque was generated by a model of a simple human right and left elbow with redundant muscles. The results demonstrated that muscle tension with signal-dependent noise formed a coordinated structure of trial-to-trial variability of muscle tension. Therefore, the removal of signal-dependent noise effects was required to evaluate the coordination of motor commands. We proposed a method to evaluate the coordination of motor commands, which removed signal-dependent noise from the measured variability of muscle tension. We used uncontrolled manifold analysis to calculate a normalized index of synergy. Simulation experiments confirmed that the proposed method could appropriately represent the coordinated structure of the variability of motor commands. We also conducted experiments in which subjects performed the same task as in the simulation experiments. The normalized index of synergy revealed that the subjects coordinated their motor commands to achieve the task. Finally, the normalized index of synergy was applied to a motor learning task to determine the utility of the proposed method. We hypothesized that a large part of the change in the coordination of motor outputs through learning was because of changes in motor commands. In a motor learning task, subjects tracked a target trajectory of the total torque. The change in the coordination of muscle tension through learning was dominated by that of motor commands, which supported the hypothesis. We conclude that the normalized index of synergy can be used to evaluate the coordination of motor commands independently from the properties of the musculoskeletal system.

Development of new cosmetic gloves for myoelectric prosthetic hand using superelastic rubber

Abstract This paper reports on the design and development of new cosmetic gloves made of two different superelastic rubbers – thermoplastic styrene elastomer (TSE) and silicone rubber (TSG silicone) – and compares them with gloves made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for myoelectric prosthetic hands to realize a realistic appearance and flexible motion. The materials are compared in terms of their appearance, material, mechanical, and sensing properties. Appearance properties include the shape, wrinkles, fingerprints, texture, nail, and color of the hand; these properties are designed so as to produce a prosthetic hand that looks similar to a human hand. The material properties are evaluated in terms of adaptability for daily living without preventing finger motions of the powered hand by performing a tear strength test. Mechanical properties are improved by designing the thickness of the palm to grip an object. The sensing properties are essential for acquiring information about the object and the environment. The overall performance is evaluated through a material engineering test and a pick-and-place test with a powered prosthetic hand. Tear strength comparisons showed that TSE and TSG silicone could respectively withstand 5–7 and 3 times the strain that PVC could withstand before breakage. The TSE glove shows the highest stretching length before breaking and shows high flexibility even after breaking. The electric currents during EMG prosthetic hand motion showed that TSE and TSG silicone gloves successfully reduced energy consumption by around one-third for many hand movements. Flexibility test results for the maximum opening posture showed that the PVC glove greatly restricted the hand opening width. However, the differences between the cases without and with TSE gloves were very small; therefore, both cases show the same range of motion. The flexible TSE facilitated easy fitting and therefore had the lowest fitting time; in fact, it can be worn in one-third the time required for wearing PVC or TSG silicone gloves. In pick-and-place experiments, TSG silicone and TSE gloves both showed similar results for successfully grasping objects. The TSE glove is hard to break and has high elasticity; therefore, nails can be added to it. Furthermore, TSG resin is thermosetting and can be processed at room temperature, making it easy to impart conductivity. Therefore, the TSG silicone material is more suitable for implementing a sensor.

Development of a Parent Wireless Assistive Interface for Myoelectric Prosthetic Hands for Children

In this study, a one-degree-of-freedom myoelectric prosthesis system was proposed using a Parent Wireless Assistive Interface (PWAI) that allowed an external assistant (e. g., the parent of the user) to immediately adjust the parameters of the prosthetic hand controller. In the PWAI, the myoelectric potential of use of the upper limb was plotted on an external terminal in real time. Simultaneously, the assistant adjusted the parameters of the prosthetic hand control device and manually manipulated the prosthetic hand. With these functions, children that have difficulty verbally communicating could obtain properly adjusted prosthetic hands. In addition, non-experts could easily adjust and manually manipulate the prosthesis; therefore, training for the prosthetic hands could be performed at home. Two types of hand motion discrimination methods were constructed in this study of the myoelectric control system: (1) a threshold control based on the myoelectric potential amplitude information and (2) a pattern recognition of the frequency domain features. In an evaluation test of the prosthesis threshold control system, child subjects achieved discrimination rates as high as 89%, compared with 96% achieved by adult subjects. Furthermore, the high discrimination rate was maintained by sequentially updating the threshold value. In addition, a discrimination rate of 82% on average was obtained by recognizing three motions using the pattern recognition method.

Empirical Evaluation of Voluntarily Activatable Muscle Synergies

The muscle synergy hypothesis assumes that individual muscle synergies are independent of each other and voluntarily controllable. However, this assumption has not been empirically tested. This study tested if human subjects can voluntarily activate individual muscle synergies extracted by non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), the standard mathematical method for synergy extraction. We defined the activation of a single muscle synergy as the generation of a muscle activity pattern vector parallel to the single muscle synergy vector. Subjects performed an isometric force production task with their right hand, and the 13 muscle activity patterns associated with their elbow and shoulder movements were measured. We extracted muscle synergies during the task using electromyogram (EMG) data and the NMF method with varied numbers of muscle synergies. The number (N) of muscle synergies was determined by using the variability accounted for (VAF, NVAF) and the coefficient of determination (CD, NCD). An additional muscle synergy model with NAD was also considered. We defined a conventional muscle synergy as the muscle synergy extracted by the NVAF, NCD, and NAD. We also defined an extended muscle synergy as the muscle synergy extracted by the NEX> NAD. To examine whether the individual muscle synergy was voluntarily activatable or not, we calculated the index of independent activation, which reflects similarities between a selected single muscle synergy and the current muscle activation pattern of the subject. Subjects were visually feed-backed the index of independent activation, then instructed to generate muscle activity patterns similar to the conventional and extended muscle synergies. As a result, an average of 90.8% of the muscle synergy extracted by the NVAF was independently activated. However, the proportion of activatable muscle synergies extracted by NCD and NAD was lower. These results partly support the assumption of the muscle synergy hypothesis, i.e., that the conventional method can extract voluntarily and independently activatable muscle synergies by using the appropriate index of reconstruction. Moreover, an average of 25.5% of the extended muscle synergy was significantly activatable. This result suggests that the CNS can use extended muscle synergies to perform voluntary movements.