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J. P. Clark, E. Battaglia, M. Bianchi, M. G. Catalano, A. Bicchi, M. K. O'Malley (2017, June). “Aperture feedback for the Pisa/IIT SoftHand with The Rice Haptic Rocker.”. In World Haptics Conference (WHC), 2017 IEEE

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This demonstration allows attendees to experience skin stretch as haptic feedback in conjunction with a prosthetic hand to handle and complete tasks with everyday objects. The closure position of the Pisa/IIT SoftHand is indicated to the user through the Rice Haptic Rocker position on the upper arm. Myoelectric prostheses have seen increased application in clinical practice and research, due to their potential for good functionality and versatility. Yet, myoelectric prostheses still suffer from a lack of intuitive control and haptic feedback, which can frustrate users and lead to abandonment. To address this problem, we propose to convey proprioceptive information for a prosthetic hand with skin stretch using the Rice Haptic Rocker. Although the demonstration will be completed with the handle version of the Pisa/IIT SoftHand, in our experiments the rocker was integrated with the myo-controlled version. A size discrimination test with 18 able bodied subjects was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Results show that the Rice Haptic Rocker can be successfully used to convey proprioceptive information. For this demonstration attendees will be able to play with the training materials to learn to use the hand as well as experience haptic feedback.