University of Siena, robotics project to help people affected by stroke or suffering from spinal cord injury
The activities of the project “Haria – Human-robot sensorimotor increase “, whose research field is the improvement of the living conditions of people affected by stroke or suffering from spinal cord injury. The HARIA project is part of the Horizon program coordinated by the University, of which the Professor Domenico Prattichizzo, lecturer in the Department of Information Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. Carried out under the European Horizon 2021 call, it received a total funding of € 4.6 million.
The works will be open on October 18 at 2 pm at the Department of Information Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, by Professor Prattichizzo, who will present the project and the team of the University of Siena which coordinates the seven European research institutions gathered in an interdisciplinary consortium coordinated by the University, between including the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, the Santa Lucia Foundation in Rome and the German company Ottobock. Subsequently, each partner will present their role in the development of the project and, subsequently, the participants in the kick-off Meeting will visit the Joint Research Laboratory Wear Lab.
The next day, October 19each partner will explain what the objectives are and will explain the study activities of the project, starting from the methods that will allow the use of and directly control the additional limbs to perceive the redundancy of the human sensorimotor system.
HARIA’s ambition is to redefine the nature of human-robot physical interaction and, at the same time, to lay the foundations for a new field of research, namely sensorimotor augmentation whose constituent elements are represented by supernumerary robotic limbs. controlled by artificial intelligence systems and connected to humans through wearable sensorimotor interfaces. The HARIA project finds its natural application in assisting people with reduced mobility of the one or two-sided upper limbs and represents an example of how technology can be used to improve the quality of life.