CRCNS US-German-Israeli Collaborative Research Proposal: Hierarchical Coordination of Complex Actions

在许多领域，人类的表现都超过了机器。例如，当需要与物理环境进行协调互动时，人类（和动物）的表现远远超过现代机器人。 尽管生物系统的“硬件”和“湿件”速度要慢得多，而且比最现代的机器人复杂得多，但这种情况还是发生了。该研究项目旨在了解复杂性在人类感官和运动表现中的作用。将研究人类在具有挑战性的平衡条件下行走，并使用手杖来提高稳定性。 研究人员强调在具有挑战性的环境中学习平衡，这将导致新的康复疗法（有或没有机器人辅助），以帮助恢复平衡和行走（例如，中风后）。研究人员将创建适合于K-12学生在线演示的教育单元，并将根据他们的研究为波士顿科学博物馆设计展品。该项目中要测试的中心假设是，涉及与对象的物理交互的复杂运动被组织为由模块或基元组成的层次结构。实验将研究未受损的人类如何学会在狭窄的横梁上行走。不同圆度的光束会带来不同的挑战。手持手杖将改变可用的支持（如儿童自行车上的训练轮）。计算机模拟与机器学习相结合将研究组织作为一个层次结构的好处和缺点。新的数学工具将被开发和测试，看看它们是否能够在具有挑战性的条件下对人类表现进行有见地的描述。这项研究涉及美国科学家的跨国合作，以色列和德国，各自拥有互补的专业知识。实验和理论工作之间的桥梁以及多样化的首席研究员将有助于吸引女性进入传统上由男性主导的计算神经科学，机器人和控制工程领域。配套项目由德国联邦教育和研究部（BMBF）和美国-以色列两国科学基金会（BSF）资助。

There are many arenas where humans outperform machines. For example, when coordinated interaction with the physical environment is needed, humans (and animals) vastly out-perform modern robots. This occurs despite the biological systems having far slower 'hardware' and 'wetware' and much greater complexity than even the most modern robots. This research project seeks to understand the role of complexity in human sensory and motor performance. Human walking under challenging balance conditions will be studied and the use of canes to enhance stability will be included. The investigators emphasis on learning to balance in challenging environments should lead to new rehabilitation therapies (with or without robotic assistance) to aid recovery of balance and walking (e.g., after stroke). The researchers will create educational units suitable for online presentation to K-12 students and will devise exhibits based on their research for the Museum of Science in Boston.The central hypothesis to be tested in this project is that complex movements involving physical interaction with objects are organized as a hierarchy formed of modules or primitives. Experiments will study how unimpaired humans learn to walk on narrow beams. Beams of different roundness will vary the challenge. Hand-held canes will alter the available support (like training wheels on a child's bicycle). Computer simulations combined with machine learning will study the benefits and drawbacks of organization as a hierarchy. New mathematical tools will be developed and tested to see if they enable insightful description of human performance in challenging conditions. The research involves a multinational collaboration among scientists from the U.S., Israel, and Germany, each with complementary expertise. The bridge between experimental and theoretical work and the diverse Principal Investigators will help to attract women into the traditionally male-dominated fields of computational neuroscience, robotics and control engineering. Companion projects are being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany (BMBF) and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF).