Therapist-Robot-Patient Physical Interaction is Worth a Thousand Words: Enabling Intuitive Therapist Guidance via Remote Haptic Control
Beatrice Luciani, Alex van den Berg, Matti Lang, Alexandre L. Ratschat, Laura Marchal-Crespo

TL;DR
This paper introduces a haptic teleoperation system enabling intuitive remote guidance for robot-assisted therapy, demonstrating improved training efficiency and reduced verbal instructions without increasing trainer effort.
Contribution
The study presents a novel haptic interface for remote therapist guidance, enhancing intuitiveness and effectiveness over traditional visual demonstration methods.
Findings
Haptic demonstration reduced movement completion time.
Haptic guidance improved movement smoothness.
Fewer verbal instructions were needed with haptic guidance.
Abstract
Robotic systems can enhance the amount and repeatability of physically guided motor training. Yet their real-world adoption is limited, partly due to non-intuitive trainer/therapist-trainee/patient interactions. To address this gap, we present a haptic teleoperation system for trainers to remotely guide and monitor the movements of a trainee wearing an arm exoskeleton. The trainer can physically interact with the exoskeleton through a commercial handheld haptic device via virtual contact points at the exoskeleton's elbow and wrist, allowing intuitive guidance. Thirty-two participants tested the system in a trainer-trainee paradigm, comparing our haptic demonstration system with conventional visual demonstration in guiding trainees in executing arm poses. Quantitative analyses showed that haptic demonstration significantly reduced movement completion time and improved smoothness, while…
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Taxonomy
TopicsStroke Rehabilitation and Recovery · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics
