Thomas G. Sugar - US grants

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Michael McBeath and Thomas Sugar will conduct three years of psychophysical research with perception studies and robotic simulations to test and instantiate navigational principles that guide human interception of moving targets. They will use interception tasks to study intrinsic perceptual principles that use unconscious, invariant, viewer-based control variables. Interception tasks will be examined with targets above and below the horizon, in simple and complex hilly terrains, and with ballistic and non-ballistic trajectories. Three test domains will be included: (1) large-scale real-world tests with miniature head-mounted cameras to measure ongoing optical positions of target objects, (2) specialized motion laboratory tests replicated in a new state-of-the-art motion laboratory specifically designed to monitor body and projectile position using point light technology, and (3) robotic simulations to further establish the viability of the proposed perceptual models.

The research will contribute to a unified fielder theory for interception based on control of simple perceptual invariants that can generalize across different types of interceptive tasks. The underlying invariant perceptual principles developed and modeled in this research will be applicable to a variety of other tasks such as the development of autonomous mobile robots, mobile tracking systems in automobiles and aircraft, and a better understanding of models of the pursuit of prey. Finally, the project includes synergistic research between perceptual psychology and robotics. The interdisciplinary research team with expertise in both perceptual modeling and robotics provides unique tools to succeed in this new and exciting approach to understanding perceptual principles. From this research, new principles will be discovered and enable a better understanding of generic navigational behavior that generalizes across many domains.

Robotics and Computer Vision Program
Division of Information and Intelligent Systems


Abstract

SGER Proposal 0341840
Compliant Actuation for Human-Machine Interaction
PI: Thomas Sugar
Arizona State University

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. T. Sugar will conduct one year of study in actively controlling compliance and designing and constructing actuators that physically interact with the user. The study of compliant actuation is an essential part of integrated systems that will aid users in locomotion and standing from a sitting position, and offers a rich framework for exploratory research. Novel designs for compliant actuators for powered orthotics and mobile assistants will be developed. These actuators will allow for safe compliant human-interactions. The research activities will lay the groundwork for the development of rehabilitation aids for the elderly.
New, selective-compliant actuators based on dynamically changing the equilibrium position of springs will lead to more functional human robotic interactions. The proposed research will overcome the outlined challenges that include the tradeoff between precision, bandwidth, and compliance, and the robust sensing of forces. From this research, the next generation of interfaces will be developed for users to interact with personal robotic assistants.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Truly wearable robotic systems pose great engineering challenges because the device must be lightweight, safe, compliant, and powerful, but also energy efficient. Designers and robotic engineers have struggled to meet these functional requirements; the ankle poses very difficult design parameters with very large power requirements (250 W). We propose a radically, different approach to the large power requirements by storing and releasing energy in springs. In Phase 1, we propose to develop and test a robotic ankle for gait assistance. The device will only supply 50% of the needed power during the gait cycle; thus leading to a very lightweight and safe device. In Phase 2, clinical trials will assess the device using able bodied patients as well as patients with stroke. The specific aims of this proposal are: Aim 1. Develop and Test the Robotic Spring Ankle Assist. RSAA 1. Complete the design of the RSAA, and build and test it. The current design of the RSAA will be refined and a beta prototype will be constructed. A non-human hazard analysis will be performed to test the safety of the RSAA. 2. Document the response of the RSAA. The RSAA will be tested initially on a KinCom dynamometer to establish position-moment response patterns. Subsequently, the RSAA will be donned by subjects with able bodies and tested again on the KinCom dynamometer. Aim 2. Evaluate (pilot) the feasibility of the RSAA to increase the function of the ankle during gait. 1. Subjects with able bodies will be tested with and without the RSAA before and after training. 2. Subjects having had a stroke will be tested with and without the RSAA before and after training. This exploratory grant focuses on a novel, spring-based, wearable robot to assist the ankle during gait. The RSAA has novel design features that allow it to be safe, compliant, lightweight, powerful, and energy- efficient. Very lightweight, low-power motors are used in conjunction with safe, powerful, and energy-efficient springs. The springs store energy and also release energy quickly during the gait cycle. The potential use of a wearable robot is in rehabilitation, training, strength augmentation, or simply as an assistive device for normal daily living. Collaboration with the Human Machine Integration Laboratory, the Human Performance Laboratory consulting on protocols and patients, Industrial Design, and industrial partners, including the Robotics Group Inc. and Arise Prosthetics will help drive the success of this project. This research will serve as the foundation to develop next generation orthoses and will lay the groundwork for future proposals to answer announcement such as "Increasing the Quality of Life in Mobility Disorders." [unreadable] [unreadable]

Biological Sciences (61)
Arizona State University in collaboration with Mesa Community College and Seattle Pacific University is implementing a genomics-focused, research-based approach for teaching the core biological science classes.

The intellectual merit of this project is that the courses involved teach critical concepts and skills by integrating all courses into a large, highly collaborative genomics research project that involves multiple schools and educational levels. The program is interdisciplinary, consisting of courses in which bacterial genome projects are initiated, completed, and published over the course of several semesters. The course work is itself a research project, and the students learn all of the necessary skills and concepts as each new stage of the project requires a new level of expertise. Many students also initiate individual research projects to follow-up their classroom work. This method of teaching was developed by PI Slater and his collaborator Dr. Goodner when they sequenced the Agrobacterium tumefaciens genome (Goodner et al.,Science. 294:2323, the latter publication had over a dozen undergraduates as coauthors) and has since been very successfully implemented by Dr. Goodner and his colleagues at Hiram College (Goodner et al., ASM News. 69:584). The approach includes integration of a laboratory robotics component and extends an ongoing collaboration with Mesa Community College.

The broader impacts of this proposal include improved articulation of efforts between the university and a local community college district, improved recruitment and retention of students in STEM fields, a focused effort on minority recruitment, significant contributions by undergraduate students to the scientific literature, and graduates with a rich set of intellectual, technical and communications skills. Detailed materials are being produced and communicated to educators from other institutions.

Locomotion is one of the most important human functions, serving survival, progress, and interaction. There are 2 million Americans living with an amputation and the majority of those amputations are of the lower limbs. Although current powered prostheses can accommodate walking, and in some cases running, basic functions like walking on various non-rigid or dynamic terrains are requirements that have yet to be met. The goal of this project is to develop and test a smart powered ankle-foot prosthesis that supports increased mobility for real-life activities. This smart service system will be able to identify and adapt to dynamic walking environment. Based on on-board sensing and the activations of the amputee's residual muscles, it will adapt its characteristics to allow for walking among different environments (e.g. concrete, asphalt, grass, gravel, loose sand) providing robust walking and balance to the amputee. The benefits of the acquired scientific and technological understanding from this project can extend beyond prostheses, to machines that interact with humans in cases of assistance and rehabilitation. The partnership's multidisciplinary expertise including engineering design, controls and human factors engineering, provides a unique environment for training of the students involved, and fosters an innovation culture in the next generation of researchers.

State-of-the-art lower limb prostheses provide reasonable solutions for walking over constant terrain; however, studies show that walking on variable and dynamic terrain may account for a very significant part of real-life functions. The ability to adapt performance at a level of intelligence seen in human walking is necessary to advance the current state-of-the art of lower limb prosthetic devices. This collaborative proposal aims to study the hierarchical processes contributing to the adaptive intelligence inherent in human walking, and to use that knowledge to develop a transformative state-of-the-art ankle-foot prosthesis. By analyzing the anticipatory and reactive mechanisms of the ankle dynamics when stepping on surfaces of different compliance, via the electromyographic signals of the involved lower limb muscles, this research is expected to enhance the scientific understanding of the control of ankle dynamics. Moreover, by incorporating these principles into the design of a hierarchical controller for a smart ankle-foot prosthesis, this program will enhance the technological understanding of advanced powered ankle-foot prosthesis that enables adaptation to the environment, currently not possible by the state-of-the-art prostheses.