Design and validation of sensory feedback strategy for extra limbs

Extra limbs (XLs) can be described as additional robotic extremities developed to assist or enhance the user abilities in specific situations. In recent years, they have been built for both impaired and healthy subject applications. In both cases, one of the significant challenges remains the lack of sensory feedback. Indeed, in the absence of tactile and proprioceptive feedback, the user has to rely heavily on visual input during the device control, which implies a usability loss and an increase in the mental effort needed for complex tasks. Implementing a sensory substitution solution can provide the missing proprioceptive and tactile feedback information to the user, increasing the usability of the whole system, and promoting its embodiment. This project aims to develop and test a sensory substitution display capable of providing proprioceptive and contact information to the user. The display will be used with a pre-existing XLs simulation platform that integrates virtual reality with a bimanual Exoskeleton (ALEx), at the Campus Biotech (Geneva).