Useful docs for the meetings
- summary of research completed/proposed at the NASTAR centrifuge (owned and run by ETC, a US centrifuge manufacturer) in Pennsylvania, USA - PDF
Gravity spectrum currently explored in motor control
Gravity is represented on the horizontal axis. Centrifuges can be used to explore the red zone above the axis and parabolic flights can be used to explore the blue zone. The special conditions at +1g and -1g can be tested on the ground. Interestingly, the interval 1-1.8g can be studied both in centrifuges and parabolic flights. Below the axis, the rectangle quantifies the knowledge we have about motor control across gravitational environment (see legend).
Robotic devices to study learning and adaptation
Robots that equip motor control labs implement haptic virtual environments. They are used to implement unusual object dynamics or dynamic environment while participants are asked to perform a certain motor task such as reaching to a target. Learning rate, transfer, and other skills can then be quantified.
Our laboratory in Dijon recently acquired a 3-dof robotic device (Sensable Phantom 3.0) that is connected to a virtual reality display. This display consists in goggles with fast-response LCD providing a high-quality stereoscopic image (Olympus, Eye-trek). Using C++ control software developed in Dr. Diedrichsen’s laboratory for the robotic device, objects with natural or novel dynamics can be simulated reliably up to a surface stiffness of approx 1000N/m. Stability of the system in improved by the implementation of Kalman filters. The control of the robot is performed at an update rate of 1000Hz, allowing for smooth and stable manipulation of object and environment dynamics on a moment-by-moment basis. The robot is illustrated below in a bimanual setup.
Our laboratory in Dijon recently acquired a 3-dof robotic device (Sensable Phantom 3.0) that is connected to a virtual reality display. This display consists in goggles with fast-response LCD providing a high-quality stereoscopic image (Olympus, Eye-trek). Using C++ control software developed in Dr. Diedrichsen’s laboratory for the robotic device, objects with natural or novel dynamics can be simulated reliably up to a surface stiffness of approx 1000N/m. Stability of the system in improved by the implementation of Kalman filters. The control of the robot is performed at an update rate of 1000Hz, allowing for smooth and stable manipulation of object and environment dynamics on a moment-by-moment basis. The robot is illustrated below in a bimanual setup.
Our lab uses those techniques to implement bimanual object manipulation (pdf), visuomotor rotation (pdf), elastic force fields (pdf) or curl fields (pdf).
Useful links
http://www.theseus-eu.org - THESEUS European roadmap to enable Space Exploration.
http://www.esa.int - European Space Agency.
http://www.esa.int - European Space Agency.