Projects

Bimanual Symmetric Motions

Many daily tasks require that a person simultaneously use both hands, such as opening the lid on a jar or moving a large book. Such bimanual tasks are difficult for people who have a stroke, but the tight neural coupling across the body can potentially allow individuals to self-rehabilitate by physically coupling their hands. To examine potential methods for robot-assisted bimanual rehabilitation, we are performing haptic tracking experiments where individuals experience a trajectory on one hand and attempt to recreate it with their other hand. Despite the physical symmetries, the results show that joint space motions are more difficult to achieve than motions in the visually centered space.