Reproducing the caress gesture with an anthropomorphic robot: a feasibility study.

Social robots have been widely used to deliver emotional, cognitive and social support to humans. The exchange of affective gestures, instead, has been explored to a lesser extent, despite phyisical interaction with social robots could provide the same benefits as human-human interaction. Some studies that explored the touch and hugs gestures were found in literature, but there are no studies that investigate the possibility of delivering realistic caress gestures, which are, in turn, the easiest affective gestures that could be delivered with a robot.

A fuzzy-logic approach for longitudinal assessment of patients' psychophysiological state: an application to upper-limb orthopedic robot-aided rehabilitation.

Understanding the psychophysiological state during robot-aided rehabilitation is crucial for assessing the patient experience during treatments. This paper introduces a psychophysiological estimation approach using a Fuzzy Logic inference model to assess patients' perception of robots during upper-limb robot-aided rehabilitation sessions. The patients were asked to perform nine cycles of 3D point-to-point trajectories toward different targets at varying heights with the assistance of an anthropomorphic robotic arm (i.

Mechanical and thermal stimulation for studying the somatosensory system: a review on devices and methods.

The somatosensory system is widely studied to understand its functioning mechanisms. Multiple tests, based on different devices and methods, have been performed not only on humans but also on animals andmodels. Depending on the nature of the sample under analysis and on the scientific aims of interest, several solutions for experimental stimulation and for investigations on sensation or pain have been adopted.

Eliciting Force and Slippage in Upper Limb Amputees Through Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS).

Upper limb amputation severely affects the quality of life of individuals. Therefore, developing closed-loop upper-limb prostheses would enhance the sensory-motor capabilities of the prosthetic user. Considering design priorities based on user needs, the restoration of sensory feedback is one of the most desired features.

Navigation benchmarking for autonomous mobile robots in hospital environment.

The widespread adoption of robotic technologies in healthcare has opened up new perspectives for enhancing accuracy, effectiveness and quality of medical procedures and patients' care. Special attention has been given to the reliability of robots when operating in environments shared with humans and to the users' safety, especially in case of mobile platforms able to navigate autonomously. From the analysis of the literature, it emerges that navigation tests carried out in a hospital environment are preliminary and not standardized.