scholarly journals Robotic Light Touch Assists Human Balance Control During Maximum Forward Reaching

2020 ◽  
pp. 001872082095053
Author(s):  
Leif Johannsen ◽  
Karna Potwar ◽  
Matteo Saveriano ◽  
Satoshi Endo ◽  
Dongheui Lee
Keyword(s):  
Balance Control ◽  
Robotic System ◽  
Body Sway ◽  
Body Balance ◽  
Human Contact ◽  
Reduced Body ◽  
Balance Task ◽  
Weight Support ◽  
Human Partner ◽  
The Social

Objective We investigated how light interpersonal touch (IPT) provided by a robotic system supports human individuals performing a challenging balance task compared to IPT provided by a human partner. Background IPT augments the control of body balance in contact receivers without a provision of mechanical body weight support. The nature of the processes governing the social haptic interaction, whether they are predominantly reactive or predictive, is uncertain. Method Ten healthy adult individuals performed maximum forward reaching (MFR) without visual feedback while standing upright. We evaluated their control of reaching behavior and of body balance during IPT provided by either another human individual or by a robotic system in two alternative control modes (reactive vs. predictive). Results Reaching amplitude was not altered by any condition but all IPT conditions showed reduced body sway in the MFR end-state. Changes in reaching behavior under robotic IPT conditions, such as lower speed and straighter direction, were linked to reduced body sway. An Index of Performance expressed a potential trade-off between speed and accuracy with lower bitrate in the IPT conditions. Conclusion The robotic IPT system was as supportive as human IPT. Robotic IPT seemed to afford more specific adjustments in the human contact receiver, such as trading reduced speed for increased accuracy, to meet the intrinsic demands and constraints of the robotic system or the demands of the social context when in contact with a human contact provider.

scholarly journals Robotic light touch assists human balance control during maximum forward reaching

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif Johannsen ◽  
Karna Potwar ◽  
Matteo Saveriano ◽  
Satoshi Endo ◽  
Dongheui Lee
Keyword(s):  
Balance Control ◽  
Robotic System ◽  
Control Mode ◽  
Body Sway ◽  
Movement Variability ◽  
Body Balance ◽  
Human Contact ◽  
Interpersonal Touch ◽  
Balance Task ◽  
Human Partner

AbstractObjectiveWe investigated how light interpersonal touch (IPT) provided by a robotic system supports human individuals performing a challenging balance task compared to IPT provided by a human partner.BackgroundIPT augments the control of body balance in contact receivers without a provision of mechanical body weight support. The nature of the processes governing the social haptic interaction, whether they are predominantly reactive or predictive, is uncertain.MethodTen healthy adult individuals performed maximum forward reaching (MFR) without visual feedback while standing upright. We evaluated their control of reaching behaviour and of body balance during IPT provided by either another human individual or by a robotic system in two alternative control modes (reactive vs predictive).ResultsChanges in reaching behaviour under the robotic IPT, such as lower speed and straighter direction were linked to reduced body sway. MFR of the contact receiver was influenced by the robotic control mode such as that a predictive mode reduced movement variability and increased postural stability to a greater extend in comparison to human IPT. The effects of the reactive robotic system, however, more closely resembled the effects of IPT provided by human contact provider.ConclusionThe robotic IPT system was as supportive as human IPT. Robotic IPT seemed to afford more specific adjustments, such as trading reduced speed for increased accuracy, to meet the intrinsic demands and constraints of the robotic system. Possibly, IPT provided by a human contact provider reflected reactive interpersonal postural coordination more similar to the robotic system’s follower mode.PrécisInterpersonal touch support by a robotic system was evaluated against support provided a human partner during maximum forward reaching.Human contact receivers showed comparable benefits in their reaching postural performance between the support conditions.Coordination with the robotic system, nevertheless, afforded specific adaptations in the reaching behaviour.

scholarly journals Mechanical evidence that flamingos can support their body on one leg with little active muscular force

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 20160948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Hui Chang ◽  
Lena H. Ting
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Joint Torque ◽  
Body Sway ◽  
Active Muscle ◽  
Reduced Body ◽  
Weight Support ◽  
Energetic Expenditure ◽  
Distal Joint ◽  
Support Body Weight ◽  
Muscle Contractile

Flamingos (Phoenicopteridae) often stand and sleep on one leg for long periods, but it is unknown how much active muscle contractile force they use for the mechanical demands of standing on one leg: body weight support and maintaining balance. First, we demonstrated that flamingo cadavers could passively support body weight on one leg without any muscle activity while adopting a stable, unchanging, joint posture resembling that seen in live flamingos. By contrast, the cadaveric flamingo could not be stably held in a two-legged pose, suggesting a greater necessity for active muscle force to stabilize two-legged versus one-legged postures. Our results suggest that flamingos engage a passively engaged gravitational stay apparatus (proximally located) for weight support during one-legged standing. Second, we discovered that live flamingos standing on one leg have markedly reduced body sway during quiescent versus alert behaviours, with the point of force application directly under the distal joint, reducing the need for muscular joint torque. Taken together, our results highlight the possibility that flamingos stand for long durations on one leg without exacting high muscular forces and, thus, with little energetic expenditure.

Impairments of Postural Balance in Surgically Treated Lumbar Disc Herniation Patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 228-234
Author(s):  
Ziva M. Rosker ◽  
Jernej Rosker ◽  
Nejc Sarabon
Keyword(s):  
Postural Balance ◽  
Center Of Pressure ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
The Body ◽  
Surface Velocity ◽  
Body Sway ◽  
Support Surface ◽  
Balance Task ◽  
Lateral Body ◽  
Unstable Support

Reports on body sway control following microdiscectomy lack reports on side-specific balance deficits as well as the effects of trunk balance control deficits on body sway during upright stances. About 3 weeks post microdiscectomy, the body sway of 27 patients and 25 controls was measured while standing in an upright quiet stance with feet positioned parallel on an unstable support surface, a tandem stance with the involved leg positioned in front or at the back, a single-leg stance with both legs, and sitting on an unstable surface. Velocity, average amplitude, and frequency-direction–specific parameters were analyzed from the center of pressure movement, measured by the force plate. Statistically significant differences between the 2 groups were observed for the medial–lateral body sway frequency in parallel stance on a stable and unstable support surface and for the sitting balance task in medial-lateral body sway parameters. Medium to high correlations were observed between body sway during sitting and the parallel stance, as well as between the tandem and single-legged stances. Following microdiscectomy, deficits in postural balance were side specific, as expected by the nature of the pathology. In addition, the results of this study confirmed the connection between proximal balance control deficits and balance during upright quiet balance tasks.

scholarly journals Postural control in high-level kata and kumite karatekas

2017 ◽  
pp. 21-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérome C. Gauchard ◽  
Alexis Lion ◽  
Loïc Bento ◽  
Philippe P. Perrin ◽  
Hadrien Ceyte
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Body Sway ◽  
Quiet Stance ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
Reduced Body ◽  
Eyes Open ◽  
Tactile Cues ◽  
High Level ◽  
Cue Availability

Postural performance may vary according to the constraints related to the practice of different martial arts. This study aimed to investigate the visual and tactile contribution in balance control: (i) between karatekas and sedentary controls; (ii) between kata and kumite specialists within the elite karatekas. Balance control in quiet stance of 23 high-level karatekas (11 kata and 12 kumite specialists) and of 24 sedentary controls was evaluated in four sensory context conditions, a combination of visual cue availability (eyes open or closed) and tactile support reliability (firm or foam surface). The results showed that karatekas had a reduced body sway and a smaller sway area compared to controls, especially in the more challenging condition, i.e. eyes closed on a foam surface. Moreover, kata karatekas tended to have a reduced body sway and a smaller sway area than kumite karatekas in all sensory conditions. The practice of karate may enhance balance control in quiet stance by optimizing the role of tactile cues and by decreasing the weighting of visual cues. Moreover, the specialization into different karateka practices may induce the implementation of specific postural strategies to solve a given balance problem.

scholarly journals Good Advice is Beyond All Price, but What if it Comes from a Machine?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Hertz ◽  
Eva Wiese
Keyword(s):  
Advice Seeking ◽  
Human Partner ◽  
The Social ◽  
Good Advice ◽  
Analytical Task ◽  
Computer Agents

As nonhuman agents become integrated into the workforce, the question becomes whether humans are willing to consider their advice, and to what extent advice-seeking depends on the perceived agent-task fit. To examine this, participants performed social and analytical tasks and received advice from human, robot, and computer agents in two conditions: in the Agent First condition, participants were first asked to choose advisors and were then informed which task to perform; in the Task First condition, they were first informed about the task and then asked to choose advisors. In the Agent First condition, we expected participants to prefer human to non-human advisors, and to subsequently trust their advice more if they were assigned the social as opposed to the analytical task. In the Task First condition, we expected advisor choices to be guided by stereotypical assumptions regarding the agents’ expertise for the tasks, accompanied by higher trust in their suggestions. The findings indicate that in the Agent First condition, the human was chosen significantly more often than the machines, while in the Task First condition advisor choices were calibrated based on perceived agent-task fit. Trust was higher in the social task, but only showed variations with the human partner.

Effects of Cognitive Over Postural Demands on Upright Standing Among Young Adults

2020 ◽  
pp. 003151252097287
Author(s):  
Kell Grandjean da Costa ◽  
Erika K. Hussey ◽  
Eduardo Bodnariuc Fontes ◽  
Alekya Menta ◽  
John W. Ramsay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Healthy Adults ◽  
Body Sway ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Stance Control ◽  
Upright Standing ◽  
Measurement Units ◽  
Future Work ◽  
The Impact

A growing body of research has shown that static stance control (e.g., body sway) is influenced by cognitive demands (CD), an effect that may be related to competition for limited central resources. Measures of stance control have also been impacted by postural demands (PD) (e.g., stable vs. unstable stances). However, less is known of any possible interactions between PD and CD on static stance control in populations with intact balance control and ample cognitive resources, like young healthy adults. In this study, among the same participants, we factorially compared the impact of PD with and without CD on static stance control. Thirty-four healthy young adults wore inertial measurement units (IMU) while completing static stance tasks for 30 seconds in three different PD positions: feet apart, feet together, and tandem feet. After completing these tasks alone, participants performed these tasks with CD by concurrently completing verbal serial seven subtractions from a randomly selected three-digit number. For two dependent measures, path length and jerk, there were main effects of CD and PD but no interaction effect between these factors. For all other stance control parameters, there was only a PD main effect. Thus, adding a cognitive demand to postural demands, while standing upright, may have an independent impact on stance control, but CD does not seem to interact with PD. These results suggest that young healthy adults may be less sensitive to simple PD and CD due to their greater inherent balance control and available cognitive resources. Future work might explore more complex PD and CD combinations to determine the boundaries under which young adults’ resources are taxed.

scholarly journals Impaired body balance control in adults with strabismus

2014 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 35-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Przekoracka-Krawczyk ◽  
Paweł Nawrot ◽  
Monika Czaińska ◽  
Krzysztof Piotr Michalak
Keyword(s):  
Balance Control ◽  
Body Balance

scholarly journals The effect of Estonian folk dance practice on static balance performance in young females

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 61-71
Author(s):  
Leili Väisa ◽  
Jaan Ereline ◽  
Mati Pääsuke ◽  
Tatjana Kums
Keyword(s):  
Balance Control ◽  
Young Female ◽  
Support Surface ◽  
Movement Trajectory ◽  
Folk Dance ◽  
Balance Performance ◽  
Body Balance ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
Unstable Support ◽  
Static Body

The aim of the present study was to establish the changes that occur in dancers’ static body balance indicators during rest, in case of interfering factors and in stress condition. The sample consisted of 14 advanced female folk dancers at the age of 16–20 years. The participants’ static body balance was measured at the beginning (in the autumn) and at the end (in the spring) of the eight-month dancing period. Static body balance indicators were registered on a dynamographic platform within 30 seconds, standing on bipedal on stable and unstable support surface in eyes-open (EO) and eyes-closed (EC) conditions. The Flamingo test balance control, the balance control after spinning around and jumping tests were conducted only in EO condition. The following parameters were registered: the movements of the centre of pressure (CoP) in the anterior-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) dimensions; the length, speed and area of the trajectory. According to the study, folk dancers’ CoP movements in the AP and ML dimensions, measured in different conditions (EO, EC), on stable and unstable support surface, did not change significantly after the eight-month dancing practice. The young folk dancers’ static body balance, assessed by CoP movement trajectory, speed and area, improved considerably over the eight-month training period. Flamingo test results indicate that practising folk dance develops the young female folk dancers’ right and left side static stability equally. In the context of Estonian folk dance practice, including preparation for performing at dance festival, the young female folk dancers’ balance performance improved both in vestibular instability (spins, standing on unstable support surface and in EO condition) and fatigue (jumping test) conditions.

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