The activity of the Lab is focused on the study of the neural plasticity that underlies the organization of the human sensorimotor system and its capacity to learn motor skills in the context of a complex environment. This also includes cognitive aspects in the neural control of movements because we believe in “embodied intelligence”: we see adaptive behavior as the emergent property of the bi-directional interactions of the nervous system with the body and the environment. This implies a continuous exchange of signals/energy between the nervous system, the body and the environment and it means that the motor neuronal input is shaped by the biophysics of the sensory organs and the motor neuronal output is transformed by the biomechanics of the body creating, at the same time, a large set of constraints & affordances.
Within this background the Lab investigates paradigms of motor learning and control by using visuo-haptic, dynamic virtual environments and measuring the motor response (in terms of kinematics and kinetics) and the corresponding neural correlates (in terms of muscle activity –EMG- and brain activity – EEG and NIRS).
The haptic part of the virtual reality system is provided by a several haptic robots (figure1) that have been designed in the lab (BdF in mono- or bi-manual configuration, IIT-Wrist robot, haptic grasp unit).

Figure 1: haptic devices designed at human behavioiur lab at IIT.
A-Braccio di Ferro BDF in bimanual configuration, B-Haptic Grasp unit, C- IIT Wrist Robot, D- 12DOFs Haptic Workstation for Bimanual manipulation of distal and proximal arms.

The emphasis is on closed-loop, adaptive systems in which the “assistance” provided by the robot during the execution of a task is modulated as a function of the actual performance and the ultimate goal of the task.

Two basic application areas are considered:
A) advanced Human-Robot Interfaces, based on a deep knowledge of the human operator and his/her computational capabilities;
B) self-adaptive robot-therapy of neurological patients (multiple sclerosis, post-ictus hemiplegia, Parkinson disease).

A few examples of the ongoing research activity are:

1. Inter-limb interference during bimanual adaptation to dynamic environments
2. Visuo-proprioceptive integration for compensating dynamic perturbations of wrist pointing movements
3. Minimally assistive reaching strategy in robot therapy
4. Adaptive robot assistance in tracking movements