Over 450,000 Americans suffer from debilitative disorders resulting in the loss of proper hand function. A lightweight, non-cumbrous, orthotic hand exoskeleton was designed to restore normal pinching and grasping finger motions. Three functional digit mechanisms were designed: a thumb, index, and grouped third digit, comprised of the middle, ring, and small fingers. Each phalange was enclosed by a series of cylindrical aluminum bands connected at the centers of rotation of each joint. Bowden cables were mounted beneath each digit to provide active flexion, mimicking the tendons in the hand. A spring extension mechanism maintained constant tension in the Bowden cables, and during relaxation, returned the actuated digits to a fully extended resting position. Individually controlled actuators mounted on a forearm assembly produced 15 N of tensile force in each cable. The orthotic hand exoskeleton will be integrated with a digital control system currently under development in this laboratory. The complete system was designed to restore hand functionality through the amplification of precision pinch and/or power grasp.

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In this paper, we present the dynamics, control, and preliminary experiments on a wearable upper arm exoskeleton intended for human users with four degrees-of-freedom (dof), driven by six cables. The control of this cable-driven exoskeleton is complicated because the cables can transmit forces to the arm only under tension. The standard PD controllers or Computed torque controllers perform only moderately since the cables need to be in tension. Future efforts will seek to refine these control strategies and their implementations to improve functionality of a human user.

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Представлены методики и результаты исследований окуломоторной активнос-ти человека при восприятии изображений лица. Проводится анализ доминантности функциональных частей лица и маршрутов их обзора при идентификации расы натурщика и его эмоционального состояния. Полученные данные позволяют утверждать, что доминантность восприятия сторон лица является системным эффектом, подчиненным собственным закономерностям порождения, динамики и развития. Преимущественное распределение движений глаз в той или иной половине изображения лица содействует выполнению перцептивных задач, однако не связано с эффективностью их решения. Важнейшей детерминантой организации окуломоторной активности при восприятии выражения лица является его структура. Наиболее часто фиксируются левый глаз натурщика и нижняя правая часть его лица. В разных сочетаниях зоны интереса стягиваются саккадами в одно целое, превращаясь в опорные пункты маршрутов обзора. Эффективное решение перцептивных задач предполагает сочетание охваты-ювающего (амбъентного) и сканирующего (фокального) способов восприятия и организации движений глаз.

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This paper presents the design concept for a bio-inspired exoskeleton intended for applications in tele-robotics and virtual reality. We based the development on an attentive analysis of the human arm anatomy with the intent to synthesize a system that will be able to interface with the human limb in a natural way. Our main goal is to develop a multi contact-point haptic interface that does not restrict the arm mobility and therefore increases the operational workspace. We propose a simplified kinematic model of the human arm using a notation coming from the robotics field. To figure out the best kinematic architecture we employed real movement data, measured from a human subject, and integrated them with the kinematic model of the exoskeleton. This allows us to test the system before its construction and to formalize specific requirements. We also implemented and tested a first passive version of the shoulder joint.

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Driven by performance demands and energy-efficiency requirements, computa-tional systems of the future will most likely be composed of many heterogeneous processing units. In these systems, only a small set of workloads can benefit from a custom functional unit. FPGA-like reconfigurable architectures have the ability to adapt and, thereby, meet the specific computational needs of a wider range of workloads. As current research efforts make these devices more accessible to application develo-pers, we expect these devices to find a place in the computational paradigm in many different domains, integrated in a variety of different ways. Hence, to cover the wide range of possibilities, we need tools that automate the process of selecting, retargeting and executing parts of an application on these recon-figurable devices. Furthermore, there is also a need for domain specific customization of the reconfigu-rable fabric, which will help to maximize the benefits from reconfigurability.

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