Related papers: Advancing Remote Medical Palpation through Cogniti…
Palpation, the use of touch in medical examination, is almost exclusively performed by humans. We investigate a proof of concept for an artificial palpation method based on self-supervised learning. Our key idea is that an encoder-decoder…
Computer-assisted multimodal training is an effective way of learning complex motor skills in various applications. In particular disciplines (eg. healthcare) incompetency in performing dexterous hands-on examinations (clinical palpation)…
Robotic systems can enhance the amount and repeatability of physically guided motor training. Yet their real-world adoption is limited, partly due to non-intuitive trainer/therapist-trainee/patient interactions. To address this gap, we…
Robotic palpation relies on force sensing, but force signals in soft-tissue environments are variable and cannot reliably reveal subtle subsurface features. We present a compact multimodal sensor that integrates high-resolution vision-based…
Affective tactile interaction constitutes a fundamental component of human communication. In natural human-human encounters, touch is seldom experienced in isolation; rather, it is inherently multisensory. Individuals not only perceive the…
Nowadays, touch remains essential for emotional conveyance and interpersonal communication as more interactions are mediated remotely. While many studies have discussed the effectiveness of using haptics to communicate emotions,…
Tactile localization is the seemingly simple ability to 'tell' where a touch has occurred. However, how this ability is assessed, and what conclusions are drawn from experiments, depends on the theoretical ideas that inspire the research.…
The airborne ultrasound tactile display can present tactile information without direct contact. Using this technology, we developed two methods for simulating the tactile sensation of tapping an object with a finger: the Amplitude…
Affective touch offers positive psychological and physiological benefits such as the mitigation of stress and pain. If a robot could realize human-like affective touch, it would open up new application areas, including supporting care work.…
Healthcare is one of the largest business segments in the world and is a critical area for future growth. In order to ensure efficient access to medical and patient-related information, hospitals have invested heavily in improving clinical…
Despite the advancement in robotic grasping and dexterity through haptic information, affective social touch, such as handshaking or reassuring stroking, remains a major challenge in Human-Robot-Interaction. This position paper examines…
Robot-to-human object handover is an essential skill for robot assistants, from serving drinks at home to passing surgical tools in the operating room. We expect robots to perform handover robustly -- to release the object only after a firm…
Social touch is essential for our social interactions, communication, and well-being. It has been shown to reduce anxiety and loneliness; and is a key channel to transmit emotions for which words are not sufficient, such as love, sympathy,…
Couples therapy requires managing complex, evolving emotional dynamics between partners, but traditional training methods for therapists, like role-play, lack realism, consistency, and control. We present a multi-modal simulation that…
Tactile perception is an essential ability of intelligent robots in interaction with their surrounding environments. This perception as an intermediate level acts between sensation and action and has to be defined properly to generate…
Teleoperation of robotic systems for precise and delicate object grasping requires high-fidelity haptic feedback to obtain comprehensive real-time information about the grasp. In such cases, the most common approach is to use kinesthetic…
Tactile sensing is a widely-studied means of implicit communication between robot and human. In this paper, we investigate how tactile sensing can help bridge differences between robotic embodiments in the context of collaborative…
People often speak of being "moved beyond words" when witnessing awe-inspiring natural beauty, experiencing profound moral elevation, or encountering powerful works of art and music. Such moments evoke intensely embodied sensations - a…
We tend to consider emotions a manifestation of our innermost nature of human beings. Emotions characterize our lives in many ways and they chaperon every rational activity we carry out. Despite their pervasiveness, there are still many…
Inter-personal touch is a powerful aspect of social interaction that we expect to be particularly important for emotional communication. We studied the capacity of closely acquainted humans to signal the meaning of several word cues (e.g.…