A222858S002S
STATEMENT OF WORK THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER IS AN ACCREDITED U.S. INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION ENGAGED IN FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. OUR RESEARCH IS INTENDED TO BE, AND IS, WIDELY AND OPENLY PUBLISHED AND MADE AVAILABLE TO THE SCIENTIFIC AND ACADEMIC COMMUNITY. CU BOULDER IS SUBMITTING ITS PROPOSAL AGAINST THE SUBJECT RFP WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE WORK TO BE PERFORMED AND THE RESULTS GENERATED ARE CONSIDERED TO BE FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH, INTENDED TO BE PUBLISHED AND SHARED BROADLY WITHIN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND THIS PROJECT IS FOCUSED ON THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK TO PROMOTE MORE EFFECTIVE AND FORGIVING RELATIONSHIPS WITH AUTONOMOUS MACHINES USING THE CONCEPT OF EMBODIMENT TO BLUR THE PERCEIVED LINES BETWEEN THE MACHINE, THE OPERATOR, AND THEIR COOPERATIVE ACTIONS. SCOPE OF WORK THE EFFORT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER FOCUSES ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMBODIMENT AND MACHINE AUTONOMY BY CONDUCTING HUMAN SUBJECTS EXPERIMENTS WHERE SUBJECTS PERFORM ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING WHILE COOPERATING WITH VARYING LEVELS OF ROBOTIC AUTONOMY
The Regents Of The University Of Colorado
Project Grant 2211906
$285.6k 10/30/23 A222858S001S
NSF MIND, MACHINE AND MOTOR NEXUS (M3X) PROJECT TITLE: A COGNITION-BASED MODEL FOR MORE FORGIVING HUMAN-MACHINE INTERACTIONS THOUGH EMBODIED COOPERATION MARASCO LAB STATEMENT OF WORK: THE MARASCO LAB WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FOLLOWING PROJECT TASKS Ô ¸ EXPERIMENTAL PROTOCOL DESIGN Ô ¸ EXPERIMENTAL-SETUP FABRICATION AND ANALYSIS PIPELINES (IN LABVIEW + MATLAB) Ô ¸ ROBOTIC PROSTHESIS PROGRAMMING (BEBIONIC HAND CONTROLLER NOISE) Ô ¸ HARDWARE INTEGRATION (BEBIONIC HAND, DATA PIPELINES, AND SENSORY FEEDBACK SYSTEMS) Ô ¸ PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT AND PARTICIPANT EXPERIMENTS (TMR PARTICIPANTS) Ô ¸ DATA COLLECTION (INTENTIONAL BINDING, PSYCHOPHYSICAL SURVEYS, RHI MEASURES) Ô ¸ DATA ANALYSIS (OWNERSHIP AND AGENCY MEASURES ACROSS CONTROLLER NOISE CONDITIONS) Ô ¸ MANUSCRIPT PREPARATIONS PROJECT OVERVIEW: THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS WORK IS TO DEVELOP A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK TO PROMOTE MORE EFFECTIVE AND FORGIVING RELATIONSHIPS WITH AUTONOMOUS MACHINES USING THE CONCEPT OF EMBODIMENT TO BLUR THE PERCEIVED LINES BETWEEN THE MACHINE, THE OPERATOR, AND THEIR COOPERATIVE ACTIONS. WHEN WE ENGAGE WITH AUTONOMOUS MACHINES, FRUSTRATION AND BLAME (BIASED ERROR ATTRIBUTION) ARE NEVER FAR AWAY, AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS SHAPE OUR DISPOSITION TO USING THESE TECHNOLOGIES. HOWEVER, HUMANS ARE WIRED TO EFFECTIVELY COOPERATE WITH AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS AS THE BODY AND BRAIN HOST COMPLEX AUTONOMOUS NETWORKS THAT SEAMLESSLY COLLABORATE TO ACCOMPLISH MOTOR ACTIONS. THIS PHYSIOLOGICAL AUTONOMY IN OUR BODIES IS MANAGED BY BIDIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION MECHANISMS THAT COMPARE OUR INTENTIONS, ACTIONS, AND THEIR SENSORY OUTCOMES. THESE MECHANISMS UNDERPIN THE CONCEPT OF EMBODIMENT; THAT IS, THE COMBINED EXPERIENCES THAT OUR BODIES BELONG TO OURSELVES (OWNERSHIP, PRIMARILY MEDIATED BY SEEING AND FEELING TOUCH TO OUR BODIES) AND THE SENSE OF AUTHORING ITS ACTIONS (AGENCY, PRIMARILY MEDIATED BY SEEING AND FEELING MOVEMENTS). MOST AUTONOMOUS MACHINES DO NOT ESTABLISH APPROPRIATE BIDIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION AND BREAK THE LINKS BETWEEN INTENTION, ACTION, AND FEEDBACK. HERE, THE OPERATOR DISTINCTLY PERCEIVES THE MACHINEÂ S COOPERATIVE ACTIONS AS SEPARATE FROM THEIR OWN, AND THE OPERATORÂ S NATURAL BIASES IN ERROR ATTRIBUTION AND FRUSTRATION CAN PROMOTE ALIENATION OF THE SAME TECHNOLOGIES THAT PROMISE TO EXTEND HUMAN CAPACITY. THIS COLLABORATIVE WORK WILL EMPLOY METHODS THAT TAP INTO THE BODYÂ S PHYSIOLOGICAL AUTONOMY TO INVESTIGATE ITS ROLE IN PROMOTING EFFECTIVE AND FORGIVING HUMAN-MACHINE INTERACTIONS. WE WILL USE A UNIQUE HUMAN NEURO-ROBOTIC MODEL SYSTEM IN WHICH PARTICIPANTS WITH UPPER LIMB AMPUTATION AND TARGETED MUSCLE REINNERVATION SURGERY (A NERVE-MACHINE INTERFACE) PILOT COOPERATIVE PROSTHETIC LIMBS. USING THIS INTERFACE PARTICIPANTS WILL CONTROL PROSTHESES BY THINKING ABOUT MOVING THEIR MISSING LIMBS AND FEEL RELEVANT SENSATIONS OF MISSING LIMB MOVEMENTS AND TOUCH. THEREFORE, USING THIS MODEL WE CAN MANIPULATE THE CONSTITUENT CHANNELS THAT CREATE EMBODIMENT (MOTOR ACTIONS, TOUCH AND MOVEMENT FEEDBACK). THIS WILL ALLOW US TO OBJECTIVELY CHARACTERIZE HOW EMBODIMENT INFLUENCES OPERATOR PERCEPTIONS, FRUSTRATION, AND BLAME DURING HUMAN-MACHINE COOPERATIVE TASKS. WITH THIS TESTBED, WE WILL (1) EXPLORE HOW MACHINES CAN OUTWARDLY BEHAVE AND COMMUNICATE TO ENGAGE THE HUMAN NEUROCOGNITIVE MECHANISMS THAT MANAGE PHYSIOLOGICAL AUTONOMY, AND (2) DEVELOP A NEW THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK THAT QUANTITATIVELY LINKS EMBODIMENT TO USER PERCEPTIONS OF ERRORS, FRUSTRATION, AND ERROR-ATTRIBUTION DURING HUMAN-MACHINE COOPERATION. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: WE WILL LEVERAGE OUR TEAMÂ S COMBINED INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPERTISE IN NEUROSCIENCES, CONTROL SYSTEMS, ASSISTIVE ROBOTICS, AND HUMAN COGNITION/ PERCEPTION TO PROVIDE A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURAL HUMAN MECHANISMS THAT ARE READY TO EMBODY AUTONOMOUS MACHINES AND THEIR COOPERATIVE ACTIONS. THE USE OF AMPUTEES WITH TARGETED MOTOR REINNERVATION PROVIDES A TESTBED TO DIRECTLY MANIPULATE THE SENSE OF EMBODIMENT, AND THIS DEGREE OF CONTROL WILL HELP PROVIDE UNIQUE SCIENTIFIC INSIGHTS BEYOND WHAT IS POSSIBLE IN ABLE-BODIED COHORTS OR PROSTHESIS USERS WITHOUT NERVE-MACHINE INTERFACES. THIS WORK HAS FAR-REACHING APPLICATIONS IN DRIVING OUR WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT AND EMBODY NOISY OR ERROR-PRONE CONTROL SYSTEMS ACROSS A GROWING NUMBER OF AUTONOMOUS DEVICES INCLUDING POWERED EXOSKELETONS, ASSISTIVE MOBILITY AIDS, AND OTHER ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGIES DESIGNED TO AUGMENT HUMAN CAPABILITIES. IN THESE CONTEXTS, OUR THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK MAY PROVIDE AN OBJECTIVE BENCHMARK TO INFORM CONTROL AND FEEDBACK STRATEGIES THAT ENGAGE PHYSIOLOGICAL AUTONOMY AND ALLOW THE COOPERATIVE ACTIONS OF ASSISTIVE DEVICES TO BE INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM THE USERÂ S. BROADER IMPACTS: POTENTIAL BENEFITS INCLUDING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRAINEES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS, THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER, AND CLEVELAND CLINIC (CASE WESTERN RESERVE). THIS WORK WILL PROVIDE TIMELY MATERIAL THAT WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE CLASSES SUCH AS BIOE5073: NEURAL INTERFACES AND BIONIC LIMBS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER AND MAE298: NEURAL MACHINE INTERFACES AND ASSISTED HUMAN MOVEMENT AT UC DAVIS. THIS WORK MAY ALSO BENEFIT THE CARE OF INDIVIDUALS WITH AMPUTATIONS AND THE PROSTHETIC TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE TO THEM. RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES WILL SUPPORT STEM DIVERSITY THROUGH PROGRAMS SUCH AS THE CALIFORNIA ALLIANCE FOR MINORITY PARTICIPATION PROGRAM AT UC DAVIS AND THE SUMMER MULTICULTURAL ACCESS TO RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM AT UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER.
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Project Grant 2211906
$292.5k 10/6/23