Toward a robot-assisted assessment of the control processes of the motor system

We present a visuo-haptic display and a set of tasks aimed at evaluating upper-limb sensory-motor functions. The visual and force feedbacks were manipulated to assess the functioning of different feedforward and feedback elements of movement control. We report the results of healthy adults who performed these tasks with both hands over two different experimental sessions. Results reproduced known effects related to motor learning and handedness. The whole procedure lasted about 15 minutes per hand so as to be potentially usable with patients in clinic. Such evaluation routine could improve the detection of age- or disease-related changes in motor behavior, and the assessment of the outcomes of rehabilitation methods.

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