Force Field Studies in Motor Control
Force field experiments have been a popular technique used for determining the mechanisms underlying motor planning, execution, and learning in the human motor system. In these experiments, robotic manipulanda apply controlled, extraneous forces/torques either at the hand or individual joints while the subjects carry out movement tasks, such as point-to-point reaching movements or continuous patterns. However, because of the mechanical constraints of the manipulanda used, these experiments have been limited to 2-DOF movements, focusing on shoulder and elbow joints, and thus not allowing for any spatial redundancy in a movement. By utilizing a 7-DOF exoskeleton, our experimental platform allows us to explore a wider variety of movements, including tasks in full 3-D space with the major 7-DOF of the human arm, and because of the inherent redundancy in these movements we can specifically examine issues such as inverse kinematics and redundancy resolution in human arm control.
Online Movement Correction
In double-step target-displacement protocol we investigate how an unexpected upcoming new target modifies ongoing discrete movements. Interesting observations in literature are: the initial direction of the movement, the spatial path of the movement to the second target, and the amplification of the speed in the second movement. Experimental data show that the above properties are influenced by the movement reaction time and the interstimulus interval between the onset of the first and second target. In the present study, we use DMPs to reproduce in simulation a large number of target-switching experimental data from the literature and to show that online correction and the observed target switching phenomena can be accomplished by changing the goal state of an on-going DMP, without the need to switch to different movement primitives or to re-plan the movement.
Discrete-Rhythmic Movement Interactions
We investigate the interaction of discrete and rhythmic movements in single and two joint experiments. In previous studies of single-joint movement tasks two measures of interaction were identified: 1) Initiation of a discrete movement superimposed to an on-going rhythmic movement is constrained to a particular phase window and 2) The ongoing rhythmic movement is disrupted during the discrete initiation, i.e. phase resetting. The goal of our research is to determince whether the interactions happens at a higher cerebral (i.e., planning) or a lower muscular/spinal (i.e. execution) level. In our psychophysical experiments we use Sensuit to record joint angle position while performing rhythmic and discrete tasks. We are using a simplified spinal cord model to study the effect of co-occurance of the discrete and rhythmic movements in a single joint.
Contact persons: Michael Mistry, Heiko Hoffmann Peyman Mohajerian, Stefan Schaal
Related Publications
Mistry, M.;Mohajerian, P.;Schaal, S. (2004). Force Field Learning in Joint Space with a 7-DOF Exoskeleton, Abstracts of the 34st Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience.
[Keywords: computational motor control
trajectory planning
inverse kinematics]
[Detail] [BibTeX]
Mohajerian, P.;Ijspeert, A.;Schaal, S. (2001). Arm motor control based on superimposed rhythmic and discrete movement primitives, Abstracts of the 31st Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience.
[Keywords: movement primitives, behaviors, dynamic systems, computational motor control, discrete, rhythmic, trajectory planning]
[Detail] [BibTeX]
Mohajerian, P.;Mistry, M.;Schaal, S. (2004). Neuronal or spinal level interaction between rhythmic and discrete motion during multi-joint arm movement, Abstracts of the 34st Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience.
[Keywords: movement primitives
behaviors
dynamic systems
computational motor control
discrete
rhythmic
trajectory planning]
[Detail] [BibTeX]
Mohajerian, P.;Peters, J.;Ijspeert, A.;Schaal, S. (2003). A unifying computational framework for optimization and dynamic systemsapproaches to motor control, Proceedings of the 10th Joint Symposium on Neural Computation (JSNC 2003).
[Keywords: computational motor control, optimization, dynamic systems, formal modeling]
[Detail] [BibTeX] [PDF]
Mistry, M.;Mohajerian, P.;Schaal, S. (2005). Arm movement experiments with joint space force fields using an exoskeleton robot, IEEE Ninth International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, pp.408-413.
[Keywords: computational motor control
trajectory planning
inverse kinematics
force control
human motor control
torque perturbations]
[Detail] [BibTeX] [PDF]
Mohajerian, P; Hoffmann, H.; Mistry, M.; Schaal, S. (2007). A Computational Model of Arm Trajectory Modification Using Dynamic Movement Primitives, Abstracts of the 37st Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience.
[Keywords: online movement correction, target switching, movement primitives, computational model, motor control]
[Detail] [BibTeX] [PDF]
Schaal, S; Mohajerian, P.; Ijspeert, A. (2007). Dynamics systems vs. optimal control — a unifying view, Progress in Brain Research, 165, pp.425-445.
[Keywords: discrete movement; rhythmic movement; movement primitives; dynamic systems; optimization; computational motor control]
[Detail] [BibTeX]
Mistry, M.;Mohajerian, P.;Schaal, S. (2005). Force field learning in joint space with a 7-DOF exoskeleton, 12th Joint Symposium of Neural Computation.
[Keywords: force fields, motor primitives, computational motor control. inverse kinematics]
[Detail] [BibTeX]
Mohajerian, P.;Mistry, M.;Schaal, S. (submitted). Cerebral or spinal level interaction of rhythmic and discrete movements during two-joint arm task, Journal of Neurophysiology.
[Detail] [BibTeX]
Mohajerian, P.;Mistry, M.;Schaal, S. (submitted). Cerebral or spinal level interaction of rhythmic and discrete movements during two-joint arm task, Journal of Neurophysiology.
[Detail] [BibTeX]
Schaal, S.;Mohajerian, P.;Ijspeert, A. (2007). Dynamics systems vs. optimal control--a unifying view, Prog Brain Res, 165, pp.425-45.
[Detail] [BibTeX] [PDF]
Mohajerian, P.;Mistry, M.;Schaal, S. (submitted). Cerebral or spinal level interaction of rhythmic and discrete movements during two-joint arm task, Journal of Neurophysiology.
[Detail] [BibTeX]