OBJECTIVE At the University of Leipzig, the requirements of the Licensing Regulations for Doctors (Approbationsordnung für Ärzte) for the practical training of communication skills are actively implemented by a two-semester communication course. During this course, student tutors impart the basics of interpersonal as well as selected aspects of doctor-patient communication using interactive tra...

The control feel of the master controller in a telemanipulation system has a critical effect on human-machine system performance. Many theoretical and practical human factors issues on hand controller design and selection remain to be explored. In this paper, two types of hand controllers, elastic versus isometric rate controllers, were studied in a 6 degree-of-freedom pursuit tracking experime...

In order for humanoid robots to enter human-centred environments, it is indispensable to equip them with manipulative, perceptive and communicative skills necessary for real-time interaction with the environment and humans. The goal of our work is to provide reliable and highly integrated humanoid platforms which on the one hand allow the implementation and tests of various research activities ...

This paper describes our experiments with a distributed manipulation system. We study a system in which multiple robots cooperate to move large objects such as furniture and boxes using a constrained prehensile manipulation mode, by wrapping ropes around them. The system consists of three manipulation skills: tieing ropes around objects, affecting translations using a flossing manipulation gait...

Learning techniques in robotic grasping applications have usually been concerned with the way a hand approaches to an object, or with improving the motor control of manipulation actions. We present an active learning approach devised to face the problem of visually-guided grasp selection. We want to choose the best hand configuration for grasping a particular object using only visual informatio...

The structure of the human hand is a complex design comprising of various bones, joints, tendons, and muscles functioning together in order to produce the desired motion. It becomes a challenging task to develop a robotic hand replicating the capabilities of the human hand. In this paper, the analysis of the four-fingered robotic hand is carried out where the tendon wires and a spring return me...

The aim of the present paper is to show that, contrary to the main current approach to numerical cognition, the link between space and numbers cannot be reduced to the concept of a mental number line (MLN). A distinction between low-level numerical skills, that involve MLN processing, and higherlevel arithmetical skills, which are related to algorithmic processing, is needed in order to underst...

INTRODUCTION Occupational therapists play an essential role in the evaluation and treatment of children with deficits observed in everyday tasks such as writing, dressing and playing. These activities are dependent on good hand function, the components of which include the aspects of muscle strength, grips and grasps and the most complex skill, namely in-hand manipulation (IHM)1,2. IHM is the “...