Accelerated and improved motor learning and rehabilitation using kinesthetic feedback

About 21 million people in the United States [roughly 8%] have a basic motor skill inability [13], many stemming not from atrophy, but an improper mapping from the brain to the motor system. Devices exist today to aid people in rebuilding their motor system mappings, but do so in bulky, and inconvenient ways, since many of the users have adequate muscle strength, but the inability to control it properly. Hundreds of millions of people in the world participate in the arts, most of which involve motion of some sort. Typically, to become able to properly perform/paint/dance/etc, training is necessary. We learn from visual and auditory feedback, and sometimes, from the touch of a teacher. This research aims to improve the efficacy of such training with robotic touch, to enable people to become better, faster. This research proposes an augmented sensory feedback system - a lightweight comfortable wearable device that utilizes the communication channel of direct touch on the body, to give real-time feedback to the wearer about their performance in motor skill tasks. Using vibrotactile signals to indicate joint error in a user's motion, we enable a user to wear a full-body suit that provides subtle cues for the brain, as they perform a variety of motor skill tasks.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Lieberman, Jeff I. (Jeff Ian), 1978-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Cynthia Breazeal.

• Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38322

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38322