Predictability, force and (anti-)resonance in complex object control
© 2018 American Physiological Society. All rights reserved. Manipulation of complex objects as in tool use is ubiquitous and has given humans an evolutionary advantage. This study examined the strategies humans choose when manipulating an object with underactuated internal dynamics, such as a cup of...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Physiological Society
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135016.2 |
| _version_ | 1811086703561015296 |
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| author | Maurice, Pauline Hogan, Neville Sternad, Dagmar |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Maurice, Pauline Hogan, Neville Sternad, Dagmar |
| author_sort | Maurice, Pauline |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2018 American Physiological Society. All rights reserved. Manipulation of complex objects as in tool use is ubiquitous and has given humans an evolutionary advantage. This study examined the strategies humans choose when manipulating an object with underactuated internal dynamics, such as a cup of coffee. The dynamics of the object renders the temporal evolution complex, possibly even chaotic, and difficult to predict. A cart-and-pendulum model, loosely mimicking coffee sloshing in a cup, was implemented in a virtual environment with a haptic interface. Participants rhythmically manipulated the virtual cup containing a rolling ball; they could choose the oscillation frequency, whereas the amplitude was prescribed. Three hypotheses were tested: 1) humans decrease interaction forces between hand and object; 2) humans increase the predictability of the object dynamics; and 3) humans exploit the resonances of the coupled object-hand system. Analysis revealed that humans chose either a high-frequency strategy with antiphase cup-and-ball movements or a low-frequency strategy with in-phase cup-and-ball movements. Counter to hypothesis 1, they did not decrease interaction force; instead, they increased the predictability of the interaction dynamics, quantified by mutual information, supporting hypothesis 2. To address hypothesis 3, frequency analysis of the coupled hand-object system revealed two resonance frequencies separated by an antiresonance frequency. The low-frequency strategy exploited one resonance, whereas the high-frequency strategy afforded more choice, consistent with the frequency response of the coupled system; both strategies avoided the antiresonance. Hence, humans did not prioritize small interaction forces but rather strategies that rendered interactions predictable. These findings highlight that physical interactions with complex objects pose control challenges not present in unconstrained movements. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Daily actions involve manipulation of complex nonrigid objects, which present a challenge since humans have no direct control of the whole object. We used a virtual-reality experiment and simulations of a cart-and-pendulum system coupled to hand movements with impedance to analyze the manipulation of this underactuated object. We showed that participants developed strategies that increased the predictability of the object behavior by exploiting the resonance structure of the object but did not minimize the hand-object interaction force. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:31:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/135016.2 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:31:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | American Physiological Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/135016.22022-09-27T17:31:37Z Predictability, force and (anti-)resonance in complex object control Predictability, force, and (anti)resonance in complex object control Maurice, Pauline Hogan, Neville Sternad, Dagmar Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences © 2018 American Physiological Society. All rights reserved. Manipulation of complex objects as in tool use is ubiquitous and has given humans an evolutionary advantage. This study examined the strategies humans choose when manipulating an object with underactuated internal dynamics, such as a cup of coffee. The dynamics of the object renders the temporal evolution complex, possibly even chaotic, and difficult to predict. A cart-and-pendulum model, loosely mimicking coffee sloshing in a cup, was implemented in a virtual environment with a haptic interface. Participants rhythmically manipulated the virtual cup containing a rolling ball; they could choose the oscillation frequency, whereas the amplitude was prescribed. Three hypotheses were tested: 1) humans decrease interaction forces between hand and object; 2) humans increase the predictability of the object dynamics; and 3) humans exploit the resonances of the coupled object-hand system. Analysis revealed that humans chose either a high-frequency strategy with antiphase cup-and-ball movements or a low-frequency strategy with in-phase cup-and-ball movements. Counter to hypothesis 1, they did not decrease interaction force; instead, they increased the predictability of the interaction dynamics, quantified by mutual information, supporting hypothesis 2. To address hypothesis 3, frequency analysis of the coupled hand-object system revealed two resonance frequencies separated by an antiresonance frequency. The low-frequency strategy exploited one resonance, whereas the high-frequency strategy afforded more choice, consistent with the frequency response of the coupled system; both strategies avoided the antiresonance. Hence, humans did not prioritize small interaction forces but rather strategies that rendered interactions predictable. These findings highlight that physical interactions with complex objects pose control challenges not present in unconstrained movements. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Daily actions involve manipulation of complex nonrigid objects, which present a challenge since humans have no direct control of the whole object. We used a virtual-reality experiment and simulations of a cart-and-pendulum system coupled to hand movements with impedance to analyze the manipulation of this underactuated object. We showed that participants developed strategies that increased the predictability of the object behavior by exploiting the resonance structure of the object but did not minimize the hand-object interaction force. NIH Grant (R01-HD-087089) NSF Grant (NSF-NRI 1637814) NSF Grant (NSF-EAGER-1548501) NIH Grant (R01-HD-081346) NIH Grant (R21-DC-013095) NSF Grant (NSF-NRI 1637854) NSF Grant (NSF-EAGER-1548514) EU Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Program (Grant Agreement no. 731540) 2022-09-27T17:31:36Z 2021-10-27T20:10:20Z 2022-09-27T17:31:36Z 2018 2020-07-21T15:40:59Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1522-1598 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135016.2 en https://dx.doi.org/10.1152/JN.00918.2017 Journal of Neurophysiology Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/octet-stream American Physiological Society Other repository |
| spellingShingle | Maurice, Pauline Hogan, Neville Sternad, Dagmar Predictability, force and (anti-)resonance in complex object control |
| title | Predictability, force and (anti-)resonance in complex object control |
| title_full | Predictability, force and (anti-)resonance in complex object control |
| title_fullStr | Predictability, force and (anti-)resonance in complex object control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Predictability, force and (anti-)resonance in complex object control |
| title_short | Predictability, force and (anti-)resonance in complex object control |
| title_sort | predictability force and anti resonance in complex object control |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135016.2 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mauricepauline predictabilityforceandantiresonanceincomplexobjectcontrol AT hoganneville predictabilityforceandantiresonanceincomplexobjectcontrol AT sternaddagmar predictabilityforceandantiresonanceincomplexobjectcontrol |