Augmenting Human Manipulation Abilities with Supernumerary Robotic Limbs

Dr. Hussain is an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering department at Khalifa University (KU), Abu Dhabi, UAE. He received his PhD degree in robotics from University of Siena, Italy. His research interests include Supernumerary (Extra) Robotic limbs, Medical Robotics, Soft Robotic hands, Complaint Manipulators, Exoskeletons and prosthesis. Prof. Prattichizzo is a professor of robotics at the University of Siena, Siena, Italy, and since 2009 he is a Scientific Consultant at Istituto Italiano di Tecnoloogia, Genova, Italy. In 1994, he was a Visiting Scientist at the MIT AI Lab. He received the Ph.D. degree in robotics and automation from the University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, in 1995. His research interests are in Supernumerary (Extra) Robotic limbs, haptics, grasping, visual servoing, mobile robotics and geometric control.

Introduction.- Enhancing human hand manipulation abilities through supernumerary robotic fingers.-  Compensating hand function in chronic stroke patients through the supernumerary robotic finger.- Design and development of soft supernumerary robotic fingers for grasp compensation in chronic stroke patients.-  Wearable sensory motor interfaces for supernumerary robotic fingers.- Wearable EMG interfaces for motion control of supernumerary robotic fingers.- From grasp compensation towards hemiparetic upper limb rehabilitation.- Conclusions and future work.