Third and Fourth Robotic Arms Feel Like a Part of the User’s Own Body
upstart writes:
Third and fourth robotic arms feel like a part of the user's own body:
A research team with members from the University of Tokyo, Keio University and Toyohashi University of Technology have developed supernumerary robotic arms operated by the user's foot movements in a virtual environment. It has shown that users can feel the supernumerary robotic arms as a part of their own body (embodiment). [...]
Doctoral student Ken Arai and Professor Masahiko Inami from the University of Tokyo, in collaboration with researchers from Keio University and Toyohashi University of Technology, have developed supernumerary robotic arms that works in conjunction with user's foot movements in a virtual reality (VR) environment, and have shown that users consider the supernumerary robotic arms as a part of their own body (embodiment). [...]
Humans do many things in our daily lives by skillfully manipulating the own bodies. Then, they use tools to do things that are difficult to do with their bodies alone. [...] The goal of supernumerary robotic arms is to extend the body's functions by adding extra limbs using appropriate human-computer interaction systems. It is expected that the supernumerary robotic arms will move as intended naturally, just like the user's own arms and legs. [...]
[...] The results of the experiment showed that after learning to use the supernumerary robotic system, subjective evaluation scores indicated the supernumerary robotic arms were embodied, and the perceptual change in visual-haptic integration around the supernumerary arm (peripersonal space) correlated with the subjective evaluation score that felt the number of arms increased (supernumerary-limb sensation).
Journal Reference:
Ken Arai, Hiroto Saito, Masaaki Fukuoka, Sachiyo Ueda, Maki Sugimoto, Michiteru Kitazaki, Masahiko Inami (2022). Embodiment of supernumerary robotic limbs in virtual reality, Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13981-w
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