Publications associées à Biomécatronique

A multi-material robotic finger with integrated proprioceptive and tactile capabilities produced with a circular process

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kai Christian Junge, Antonia Georgopoulou Papadonikolaki

When developing or designing biomimetic robotic fingers with rigid and soft components and integrated sensors, fabrication is often a bottle-neck when assembling and casting processing techniques are used. This study introduces a thermoplastic multi-materi ...

IEEE2023

Transient Elastomers with High Dielectric Permittivity for Actuators, Sensors, and Beyond

Holger Frauenrath, Yauhen Sheima

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are key materials in actuators, sensors, energy harvesters, and stretchable electronics. These devices find applications in important emerging fields such as personalized medicine, renewable energy, and soft robotics. However, e ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2022

Toward higher-performance bionic limbs for wider clinical use

Silvestro Micera

Most prosthetic limbs can autonomously move with dexterity, yet they are not perceived by the user as belonging to their own body. Robotic limbs can convey information about the environment with higher precision than biological limbs, but their actual perf ...

NATURE RESEARCH2023

Virtual reality simulation of epiretinal stimulation highlights the relevance of the visual angle in prosthetic vision

Diego Ghezzi, Enrico Migliorini, Jacob Thomas Thorn

Objective. Retinal prostheses hold the potential to restore artificial vision in blind patients suffering from outer retinal dystrophies. The optimal number, density and coverage of the electrodes that a retinal prosthesis should have to provide adequate a ...

2020

Vertex: A New Distributed Underwater Robotic Platform for Environmental Monitoring

Alcherio Martinoli, Alexander Bahr, Felix Stephan Schill

We present a new Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) system for cooperative environmental sensing. The AUV was specifically developed as a platform for distributed, cooperative sensing in lakes and coastal areas. In this paper we describe the prerequisite ...

SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG2019

Bio-inspired standing balance controller for a full-mobilization exoskeleton

Auke Ijspeert, Mohamed Bouri, Jemina Fasola, Tristan Hubert Vouga, Romain Pierre François Baud

This paper presents a novel method to perform automatic standing balance in a full mobilization exoskeleton. It exploits the locked ankle and the curved foot sole of the exoskeleton TWIICE. The idea is to use the knees to roll the sole and change the posit ...

IEEE2019

Four-Arm Manipulation via Feet Interfaces

Aude Billard, Hannes Bleuler, Mohamed Bouri, Anaïs Betsabeh Haget, Walid Amanhoud, Jacob Hernandez Sanchez

We seek to augment human manipulation by enabling humans to control two robotic arms in addition to their natural arms using their feet. Thereby, the hands are free to perform tasks of high dexterity, while the feet-controlled arms perform tasks requiring ...

AAAI2019

Neuroprosthetics to support impaired hand functions: A multidisciplinary approach combining brain-machine interfaces and wearable exoskeletons

Luca Randazzo

Neuroprosthetics, the discipline that aims at interfacing neural systems to artificially engineered devices, has witnessed in recent years important advancements towards the ultimate goal of augmenting and restoring human functions through technology and a ...

EPFL2018

Designing sensory feedback approaches for restoring touch and position feedback in upper limb amputees

Edoardo D'Anna

Upper limb amputation disrupts most daily activities and reduces the quality of life of affected individuals. Building a suitable prosthetic limb, which can restore at least some of the lost capabilities, is a goal which has been pursued for centuries. In ...

EPFL2018

Supernumerary Robotic Arm for Three-Handed Surgical Application: Behavioral Study and Design of Human-Machine Interface

Elahe Abdi

In surgical to industrial manipulation, the operator needs assistance for tasks requiring more than two hands. Teamwork may be the source of errors and inefficiency, especially if the assistant is a novice or unfamiliar with the main operator. The need for ...

EPFL2017

EXiO-A Brain-Controlled Lower Limb Exoskeleton for Rhesus Macaques

Hannes Bleuler, Mohamed Bouri, Jeremy Olivier, Miguel Nicolelis, Tristan Hubert Vouga

Recent advances in the field of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) have demonstrated enormous potential to shape the future of rehabilitation and prosthetic devices. Here, a lower-limb exoskeleton controlled by the intracortical activity of an awake behaving ...

Ieee-Inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc2017

Spinal joint compliance and actuation in a simulated bounding quadruped robot

Auke Ijspeert, Alexander Spröwitz, Soha Pouya, Mohammad Khodabakhsh

Spine movements play an important role in quadrupedal locomotion, yet their potential benefits in locomotion of quadruped robots have not been systematically explored. In this work, we investigate the role of spinal joint actuation and compliance on the bo ...

Springer2017

A multimodal framework for the design and the assessment of robotic-assisted treatments for motor disorders

Elvira Pirondini

Robotic devices represent an undeniable alternative method to traditional therapy. However, the clinical use of robot-assisted rehabilitation for patients with hemiplegia after stroke has been restricted for decades by i) limited functional characterisatio ...

EPFL2017

Modeling, Characterization and Control of a Novel Torsional Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Actuator

Jamie Paik, Zhenishbek Zhakypov, Jian-Lin Huang

Thermally activated shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators are direct-driven and produce high power density with design versatility. However, beyond their linear actuation in spring forms there is little variety and their application in robotics is limited by ...

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers2016

Development of Walk Assistive Orthoses for Elderly

Jeremy Olivier

The proportion of elderly people is rapidly growing and the resources to help them will soon be insufficient. An important difficulty faced by the seniors is locomotion. Among the conditions that may be responsible for gait impairment, the reduced muscular ...

EPFL2016

Stretchable Materials for Robust Soft Actuators towards Assistive Wearable Devices

Jamie Paik, Gunjan Agarwal, Basile Nicolas Audergon, Nicolas Besuchet

Soft actuators made from elastomeric active materials can find widespread potential implementation in a variety of applications ranging from assistive wearable technologies targeted at biomedical rehabilitation or assistance with activities of daily living ...

Nature Research2016

Soft Pneumatic Actuator Skin with Embedded Sensors

Jamie Paik, Yun Seong Song, Chansu Suh

Soft Pneumatic Actuator skin (SPA-skin) is a novel concept of ultra-thin (< 1 mm) sensor embedded actuators with distributed actuation points that could cover soft bodies. This highly customizable and flexible SPA-skin is ideal for providing proprioceptive ...

Ieee2014

Sensor and actuator integrated low-profile robotic Origami

Jamie Paik, Yi Sun, Amir Firouzeh

The robotic origami (Robogami) is a low-profile, sheet-like robot with multi degrees-of-freedom (DoF) that embeds different functional layers. Due to its planar form, it can take advantage of precise 2D fabrication methods usually reserved for micro and na ...

Ieee2013

Model-Based and Model-Free Approaches for Postural Control of a Compliant Humanoid Robot using Optical Flow

Auke Ijspeert, Jesse van den Kieboom, Sébastien Gay, José Santos-Victor

Vision is a very rich sensor with a proven critical role in the control of balance. However, it is widely under- used for robotics postural control. This paper presents and compares two approaches, one model-based and one model-free, to ensure stability of ...

2013

Decoding Self-paced Upper Limb Reaching Movements from Brain Signals

José del Rocio Millán Ruiz, Eileen Lew Yi Lee

Future emerging technologies in upper limb neuroprosthetic devices will require decoding and executing the user's intended movement. Previous studies, using invasive and non-invasive brain signals, have shown promising results in decoding movement directio ...

EPFL2012