title: Midpoint perturbation response in haptically-guided movements.
abstract: This study investigates the human response to impulse perturbations at the midpoint of a haptically-guided straight-line point-to-point movement. Such perturbation response may be used as an assessment tool during robot-mediated neuro-rehabilitation therapy. Subjects show variety in their perturbation responses. Movements with a lower perturbation displacement exhibit high frequency oscillations, indicative of increased joint stiffness. Equally, movements with a high perturbation displacement exhibit lower frequency oscillations with higher amplitude and a longer settling time. Some subjects show unexpected transients during the perturbation impulse, which may be caused by complex joint interactions in the hand and arm.
authors.affiliation: The School of Systems Engineering, Reading University, Whiteknights, Reading, UK. siu02dif@reading.ac.uk
authors.forename: Daniel I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Fortunov
authors.forename: Faustina
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Harwin
mesh_terms: D001132:Arm; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003201:Computers; D004576:Electromyography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009068:Movement; D009991:Oscillometry; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D013997:Time Factors