A mechatronic platform for human touch studies |
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Authors: | Calogero Maria Oddo Lucia Beccai Nicola Vitiello Helena Backlund Wasling Johan Wessberg Maria Chiara Carrozza |
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Affiliation: | a The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, I-56025 Pontedera, Pisa, Italy;b Center for Micro-BioRobotics@SSSA, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, I-56025 Pontedera, Pisa, Italy;c Department of Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Medicinaregatan 11, SE-40530 Goteborg, Sweden |
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Abstract: | The development of a mechatronic tactile stimulation platform for touch studies is presented. The platform was developed for stimulation of the fingertip using textured surfaces, providing repeatable tangential sliding motion of stimuli with controlled indentation force. Particular requirements were addressed to make the platform suitable for neurophysiological studies in humans with particular reference to electrophysiological measurements, but allowing a variety of other studies too, such as psychophysical, tribological and artificial touch ones. The design of the mechatronic tactile stimulator is detailed, as well as the performance in tracking reference trajectories. Using microneurography, we recorded from human tactile afferents and validated the platform compatibility with the exacting demands of electrophysiological methods, comprising the absence of spurious vibrations and the lack of relevant electromagnetic interference. |
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Keywords: | Mechatronic tactile stimulator Electrophysiological measurements Fingertip mechanoreceptors Microneurography Tactile stimuli encoding Biorobotics |
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