MRI: Acquisition of robotic tools for studying brain, behavior and embodied cognition

该项目将为加州大学默塞德分校（加州大学系统的第十个也是最新的校区）的研究人员提供一个集成了虚拟现实和眼动追踪设备的新型机器人外骨骼手臂，用于研究人类的具体化和定位认知。这些设备将使使用机器人工具进行人类认知研究的前沿研究成为可能，使包括认知与信息科学、电气工程与计算机科学、机械工程和数字人文科学在内的各个部门的教职员工和学生受益。该设备将催化几个方向的研究，包括：1)人体运动控制和动作动力学及其在物理康复中的应用；2)具身认知和动作；3)脑-行为交互；4)基于人类的机器人研究；5)人机交互；6)语言、交流和手势。机械臂将提供一个复杂的平台来监控和操纵上肢，提供广泛的基于手和关节的动觉信息和凝视信息。通过内置的虚拟/增强现实，机器人手臂系统将允许在操纵人类参与者的手臂运动时改变视觉信息。这项工作将有助于在加州大学默塞德分校的一个战略重点领域建立机构能力，并将导致校园各个部门的科学家和学生之间的直接合作。由于加州大学默塞德分校的学生群体非常多样化，并且有大量的项目专注于增加未被充分代表的少数民族的参与，因此这些设备所产生的培训影响预计将特别广泛。包括PI: Balasubramaniam和co -PI Spivey和Carpin在内的研究人员还计划使用经颅磁刺激（TMS）等技术来干扰神经活动，并在使用机器人设备干扰手臂运动时记录大脑活动。这项研究的变革性方面来自于它同时观察和操纵大脑活动和复杂运动行为的能力。

This project will make a new robotic exoskeleton arm with integrated virtual reality and eye-tracking facilities available to researchers for the study of human embodied and situated cognition at UC Merced, the tenth and newest campus of the University of California system. The equipment would enable cutting-edge research in the study of human cognition using tools from robotics benefitting a range of Faculty and students across various departments including Cognitive & Information Sciences, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering and Digital Humanities. The equipment will catalyze research in several directions including 1) Human Motor Control & Action Dynamics with applications for physical rehabilitation 2) Embodied Cognition and Action 3) Brain-behavior interactions 4) Fundamental human-inspired robotics research 5) Human-machine interactions 6) Language, Communication & Gesture. The robotic arm will provide a sophisticated platform to monitor and manipulate the upper limb, providing a broad range of hand and joint-based kinesthetic information and gaze information. With built in virtual/augmented reality, the robot arm system will allow for altering visual information to be presented to human participants while manipulating their arm movements. The work will help build institutional capacity in an area of strategic focus at UC Merced and will result in direct collaborations between scientists and students across various departments on campus. The impact of the training resulting from the equipment is expected to be particularly broad at UC Merced due to its exceptionally diverse student body and the large number of programs focused on increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities.Researchers including the PI: Balasubramaniam and Co-PIs Spivey and Carpin also plan on perturbing neural activity using techniques such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and recording brain activity during the perturbation of arm movements using the robotic device. The transformative aspect of this research comes from its ability to observe and manipulate brain activity and complex motor behavior simultaneously.