Effect of the magnified finger by visual and force feedback on the feeling of synchrony

Abstract

For motor neuron diseases whose main symptom is muscle weakness, neuro-rehabilitation technology is expected to provide efficient improvement in brain functions through spontaneous exercise. In this paper, we develop a system that simultaneously presents physical hand movement support by a force-assist glove powered by pneumatic artificial muscles (PGMs) triggered by EMG signals and visual feedback by displaying virtual fingers. The experiments were conducted under the condition of changing the presence or absence of actual finger motion support while the virtual hand motion is larger than actual hand motion, and the effect of the difference in the motion by the simultaneous feedback of vision and force on the feeling of motion synchronization is discussed.