Design of an optical sensing system to control and intelligently actuate wearable robotics augmentation

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Robotic motor augmentation is a new research domain that employs methodologies to extend the physical abilities of any individual in various ways. Commercial opportunities for substituting (e.g. prosthetic limbs) or improving existing hand function (e.g. exoskeleton) already exist, whereas augmentation technologies are still at relatively early development. While promising in innovation, current augmentation technologies come with challenges, such as difficulty to control the devices, and a lack of fundamental feedback. In this research, the Third Thumb (Dani Clode Design), a wearable 3D-printed hand augmentation device will be used. For now, the thumb is human-controlled with pressure sensors under the toes and doesn't present any haptic feedback. Optical sensing is a precise and reliable technology to capture information on an object and its environment. My research will investigate how information harvested by optical sensors can provide new functionality to augmentation technologies. First, we will focus on control, looking at ways to input commands to the system both by sensing the user's motor intentions (in the case of healthy individuals and also patients who suffered from a stroke), but also by developing intelligent actuation of the third thumb provide movement precision. Second, we will focus on feedback, where optical sensing will be used to deliver information (e.g., pressure, roughness, etc) on what the thumb is experiencing back to the user (or the intelligent control). By comprehensively considering both control and feedback, optical sensing has enormous (yet unexploited) potential for creating closed-loop systems.