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Wearable and grounded supernumerary robotic limbs for sensorimotor augmentation in post-stroke patients

Pozzi, Maria ; D’Aurizio, Nicole ; Brogi, Bernardo ; Cortigiani, Giovanni ; Franco, Leonardo ; Shukla, Manish ; Giannotta, Alessandro ; Rossi, Simone ; Skavron, Sarah LU and Frennert, Susanne LU orcid , et al. (2025) In International Journal of Robotics Research
Abstract

The aim of this work is to redefine the concept of sensorimotor augmentation, extending it from wearable devices to supernumerary robotic upper limbs that are grounded and can be placed out of the physiological peripersonal space of the user. While the wearability of the supernumerary robotic limb (SRL) is not mandatory, the human-robot connection must be maintained through a wearable interface that allows the user to naturally command and receive sensory feedback from the SRL. In this way, users can keep the robot under their control, without adding unnecessary extra weight on their body. As a result, the application of SRLs in assistive contexts is facilitated, as even people with severe paresis who might not be able to withstand the... (More)

The aim of this work is to redefine the concept of sensorimotor augmentation, extending it from wearable devices to supernumerary robotic upper limbs that are grounded and can be placed out of the physiological peripersonal space of the user. While the wearability of the supernumerary robotic limb (SRL) is not mandatory, the human-robot connection must be maintained through a wearable interface that allows the user to naturally command and receive sensory feedback from the SRL. In this way, users can keep the robot under their control, without adding unnecessary extra weight on their body. As a result, the application of SRLs in assistive contexts is facilitated, as even people with severe paresis who might not be able to withstand the burden of a wearable robotic arm, can be augmented by grounded SRLs. Focusing on upper-limb assistive augmentation, this paper introduces another fundamental novelty: the exploitation of augmentative technologies as motivational tools for re-using the impaired upper limb in chronic paretic patients. To this aim, a new user-centered procedure for extracting a control signal from a residual motion of a patient’s upper limb is proposed and tested in scenarios where the impaired limb takes part in the manipulation task by controlling the SRL. Extensive pilot tests with two post-stroke patients show the intuitiveness and usability of the proposed approach.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
assistive robotics, augmentation, sensorimotor interfaces, supernumerary limbs
in
International Journal of Robotics Research
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:105024780040
ISSN
0278-3649
DOI
10.1177/02783649251403013
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
id
8e87387d-ab65-4b15-b7ac-30547170c5a4
date added to LUP
2026-03-05 14:11:49
date last changed
2026-03-05 14:13:07
@article{8e87387d-ab65-4b15-b7ac-30547170c5a4,
  abstract     = {{<p>The aim of this work is to redefine the concept of sensorimotor augmentation, extending it from wearable devices to supernumerary robotic upper limbs that are grounded and can be placed out of the physiological peripersonal space of the user. While the wearability of the supernumerary robotic limb (SRL) is not mandatory, the human-robot connection must be maintained through a wearable interface that allows the user to naturally command and receive sensory feedback from the SRL. In this way, users can keep the robot under their control, without adding unnecessary extra weight on their body. As a result, the application of SRLs in assistive contexts is facilitated, as even people with severe paresis who might not be able to withstand the burden of a wearable robotic arm, can be augmented by grounded SRLs. Focusing on upper-limb assistive augmentation, this paper introduces another fundamental novelty: the exploitation of augmentative technologies as motivational tools for re-using the impaired upper limb in chronic paretic patients. To this aim, a new user-centered procedure for extracting a control signal from a residual motion of a patient’s upper limb is proposed and tested in scenarios where the impaired limb takes part in the manipulation task by controlling the SRL. Extensive pilot tests with two post-stroke patients show the intuitiveness and usability of the proposed approach.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pozzi, Maria and D’Aurizio, Nicole and Brogi, Bernardo and Cortigiani, Giovanni and Franco, Leonardo and Shukla, Manish and Giannotta, Alessandro and Rossi, Simone and Skavron, Sarah and Frennert, Susanne and Salvietti, Gionata and Malvezzi, Monica and Prattichizzo, Domenico}},
  issn         = {{0278-3649}},
  keywords     = {{assistive robotics; augmentation; sensorimotor interfaces; supernumerary limbs}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Robotics Research}},
  title        = {{Wearable and grounded supernumerary robotic limbs for sensorimotor augmentation in post-stroke patients}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/02783649251403013}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/02783649251403013}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}