Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: This thesis presents three experiments to investigate the planning and control of remote prehension. Experiment 1 examined the role of visual information of the tool in planning of remote grasping. Results showed that the lack of visual feedback about the tool reduced the matching accuracy when using a grasper compared to using the hand directly. The grasper used in Experiment 1 had a movable hinge, producing two different length ratios. However, the length ratio did not affect kinematics and matching errors, suggesting that knowledge about tool properties was integrated properly into the motor commands. Kinematics of remote prehension, examined in Experiment 2, showed a longer movement time, longer deceleration phase, and wider peak aperture compared to natural prehension. Results addressed the difficulty of sensorimotor integration in guiding remote prehension. Analyses on angular movements of the upper limb showed tight couplings between joint pairs but coupling patterns were different between natural and remote prehension. The elbow angle range was significant larger in remote prehension but wrist angle range was smaller. The path variability of the reaching limb was significantly smaller in remote than natural prehension. The changes of path variability of the thumb, wrist, and elbow were associated in remote prehension but not in natural prehension. Converging result indicated that the upper limb in remote prehension has less flexibility, especially for the distal portion of the motor effector. In Experiment 3 remote prehension were performed using tongs and forceps with three grasping patterns. The grasp kinematics displayed distinctive features among the hand, tongs and forceps. However, transport did not show differences between the gongs and forceps. Results revealed that the tool had component-specific effects on the motor system; therefore, the control for remote manipulation more likely is a one-time solution, subject to the changes of task constraints and tool properties. This thesis emphasizes the unique aspect in sensorimotor integration of remote prehension and dissects the influence of the tool properties and the hand-tool interactions on the planning and control of remote manipulation. Results provide insights into the design of optimal tools and work environments for remote manipulation.
Source: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Author: Bin Zheng
Language: English
Topic: Motor Control and Adaptation
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2289593603