The man-machine interaction: The influence of artificial intelligence on rehabilitation robotics

Abstract

We are leaving in a world where the interaction with intelligent machines is an every day life event. The advances in artificial intelligence had allowed the development of adaptive machines that can modify its internal parameters to adjust their behavior according to the changing environment. One field that has profit from this is rehabilitation and prosthetics. In this respect, is our interest to evaluate the effects that this interaction has on the user. In this study, we use an f-MRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) device to measure the changes on the motor and sensory cortex of a right hand amputee's using an EMG controlled Adaptable prosthetic hand with tactile feedback. Our results show the improvement in the adaptation to the prosthetic device, also, our experiments point to a possible modification of the body schema, generating an illusion of belonging of the robot hand to the human body. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.