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Anxiety disorders affect approximately one third of people during their lifetimes and are the ninth leading cause of global disability. Current treatments focus on therapy and pharmacological interventions. However, therapy is costly and pharmacological interventions often have undesirable side-effects. Healthy people also regularly suffer periods of anxiety. Therefore, a non-pharmacological, intuitive, home intervention would be complementary to other treatments and beneficial for non-clinical groups. Existing at-home anxiety aids, such as guided meditations, typically employ visual and/or audio stimuli to guide the user into a calmer state. However, the tactile sense has the potential to be a more natural modality to target in an anxiety-calming device. The tactile domain is relatively under-explored, but we suggest that there are manifold physiological and affective qualities of touch that lend it to the task. In this study we demonstrate that haptic technology can offer an enjoyable, effective and widely accessible alternative for easing state anxiety. We describe a novel huggable haptic interface that pneumatically simulates slow breathing. We discuss the development of this interface through a focus group evaluating five prototypes with embedded behaviours (‘breathing’, ‘purring’, ‘heartbeat’ and ‘illumination’). Ratings indicated that the ‘breathing’ prototype was most pleasant to interact with and participants described this prototype as ‘calming’ and ‘soothing’, reminding them of a person breathing. This prototype was developed into an ergonomic huggable cushion containing a pneumatic chamber powered by an external pump allowing the cushion to ‘breathe’. A mixed-design experiment (n = 129) inducing anxiety through a group mathematics test found that the device was effective at reducing pre-test anxiety compared to a control (no intervention) condition and that this reduction in anxiety was indistinguishable from that of a guided meditation. Our findings highlight the efficacy of this interface, demonstrating that haptic technologies can be effective at easing anxiety. We suggest that the field should be explored in more depth to capture the nuances of different modalities in relation to specific situations and trait characteristics.

Snails can stably slide across a surface with only a single high-payload sucker, offering an efficient adhesive locomotion mechanism for next-generation climbing robots. The critical factor for snails’ sliding suction behaviour is mucus secretion, which reduces friction and enhances suction. Inspired by this, we proposed an artificial sliding suction mechanism. The sliding suction utilizes water as an artificial mucus, which is widely available and evaporates with no residue. The sliding suction allows a lightweight robot (96 g) to slide vertically and upside down, achieving high speeds (rotation of 53°/s and translation of 19 mm/s) and high payload (1 kg as tested and 5.03 kg in theory), and does not require energy during adhesion. Here, we show that the sliding suction is a low-cost, energy-efficient, high-payload and clean adhesive locomotion strategy, which has high potential for use in climbing robots, outdoor inspection robots and robotic transportation. By mimicking the strong adhesive locomotion ability of snails, the authors present a sliding suction method to allow robots to climb with high adhesive force and low energy consumption up walls and on ceilings.

Multimodal perception is the predominant means by which individuals experience and interact with the world. However, sensory dysfunction or loss can significantly impede this process. In such cases, cross-modality research offers valuable insight into how we can compensate for these sensory deficits through sensory substitution. Although sight and hearing are both used to estimate the distance to an object (e.g., by visual size and sound volume) and the perception of distance is an important element in navigation and guidance, it is not widely studied in cross-modal research. We investigate the relationship between audio and vibrotactile frequencies (in the ranges 47–2,764 Hz and 10–99 Hz, respectively) and distances uniformly distributed in the range 1–12 m. In our experiments participants mapped the distance (represented by an image of a model at that distance) to a frequency via adjusting a virtual tuning knob. The results revealed that the majority (more than 76%) of participants demonstrated a strong negative monotonic relationship between frequency and distance, across both vibrotactile (represented by a natural log function) and auditory domains (represented by an exponential function). However, a subgroup of participants showed the opposite positive linear relationship between frequency and distance. The strong cross-modal sensory correlation could contribute to the development of assistive robotic technologies and devices to augment human perception. This work provides the fundamental foundation for future assisted HRI applications where a mapping between distance and frequency is needed, for example for people with vision or hearing loss, drivers with loss of focus or response delay, doctors undertaking teleoperation surgery, and users in augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) environments.

Vision is crucial for daily tasks and interacting with the environment, but visual impairment can hinder these activities. Many sensory substitution products and studies prioritize providing abundant and accurate information, yet often overlook the inherent relationship between different modalities, potentially preventing users from receiving information intuitively. This study investigated the representation of visual distance using auditory and vibrotactile frequency through a series of psychological cross-modal matching experiments. By establishing mapping functions between auditory/vibrotactile frequency and visual distance, we aim to facilitate the design of sensory substitution devices that take visual distance information (ranging from 1 m to 12 m) and convert it into non-visual information (auditory frequency within the range 47-2764 Hz or vibrotactile frequency within the range 10–99 Hz). Results show distinct patterns regarding the correlation between visual distance and frequency in both auditory (auditory frequency-to-visual distance) and vibrotactile (vibrotactile frequency-to-visual distance) domains. The prevailing trend (59%) was a monotonic negative correlation (i.e. higher frequencies are associated with shorter distances), while 24% of participants demonstrated a consistently positive correlation. Additionally, we compare this study with our previous investigations into the reverse cross-modal mapping of visual distance-to-auditory frequency and visual distance-to-vibrotactile frequency. We reveal common patterns between these two studies (negative and positive correlations), suggesting a bidirectional mapping between visual distance and frequency in both auditory and vibrotactile domains, and the potential for new sensory substitution devices for those with visual impairment by integrating underlying cross-modal mechanisms to enhance intuitive and natural human-machine interaction.

Background Soft, wearable, powered exoskeletons are novel devices that may assist rehabilitation, allowing users to walk further or carry out activities of daily living. However, soft robotic exoskeletons, and the more commonly used rigid exoskeletons, are not widely adopted clinically. The available evidence highlights a disconnect between the needs of exoskeleton users and the engineers designing devices. This review aimed to explore the literature on physiotherapist and patient perspectives of the longer-standing, and therefore greater evidenced, rigid exoskeleton limitations. It then offered potential solutions to these limitations, including soft robotics, from an engineering standpoint. Methods A state-of-the-art review was carried out which included both qualitative and quantitative research papers regarding patient and/or physiotherapist perspectives of rigid exoskeletons. Papers were themed and themes formed the review’s framework. Results Six main themes regarding the limitations of soft exoskeletons were important to physiotherapists and patients: safety; a one-size-fits approach; ease of device use; weight and placement of device; cost of device; and, specific to patients only, appearance of the device. Potential soft-robotics solutions to address these limitations were offered, including compliant actuators, sensors, suit attachments fitting to user’s body, and the use of control algorithms. Conclusions It is evident that current exoskeletons are not meeting the needs of their users. Solutions to the limitations offered may inform device development. However, the solutions are not infallible and thus further research and development is required.

We present and evaluate the concept of FeelMusic and evaluate an implementation of it. It is an augmentation of music through the haptic translation of core musical elements. Music and touch are intrinsic modes of affective communication that are physically sensed. By projecting musical features such as rhythm and melody into the haptic domain, we can explore and enrich this embodied sensation; hence, we investigated audio-tactile mappings that successfully render emotive qualities. We began by investigating the affective qualities of vibrotactile stimuli through a psychophysical study with 20 participants using the circumplex model of affect. We found positive correlations between vibration frequency and arousal across participants, but correlations with valence were specific to the individual. We then developed novel FeelMusic mappings by translating key features of music samples and implementing them with “Pump-and-Vibe”, a wearable interface utilising fluidic actuation and vibration to generate dynamic haptic sensations. We conducted a preliminary investigation to evaluate the FeelMusic mappings by gathering 20 participants’ responses to the musical, tactile and combined stimuli, using valence ratings and descriptive words from Hevner’s adjective circle to measure affect. These mappings, and new tactile compositions, validated that FeelMusic interfaces have the potential to enrich musical experiences and be a means of affective communication in their own right. FeelMusic is a tangible realisation of the expression “feel the music”, enriching our musical experiences.

The principle of control signal amplification is found in all actuation systems, from engineered devices through to the operation of biological muscles. However, current engineering approaches require the use of hard and bulky external switches or valves, incompatible with both the properties of emerging soft artificial muscle technology and those of the bioinspired robotic systems they enable. To address this deficiency a biomimetic molecular-level approach is developed that employs light, with its excellent spatial and temporal control properties, to actuate soft, pH-responsive hydrogel artificial muscles. Although this actuation is triggered by light, it is largely powered by the resulting excitation and runaway chemical reaction of a light-sensitive acid autocatalytic solution in which the actuator is immersed. This process produces actuation strains of up to 45% and a three-fold chemical amplification of the controlling light-trigger, realising a new strategy for the creation of highly functional soft actuating systems.

Physiotherapists lack training opportunities for repeated practice of pelvic examinations for the identification of pelvic floor disorders (PFDs), leading to low confidence in the clinical setting. Pelvic simulators exist and are a valuable supplement to the medical curriculum, yet none demonstrate pelvic floor muscle (PFM) function or dysfunction. To design effective simulators, an assessment of end-user requirements is essential. This study aimed to elicit physiotherapists' needs and requirements for a high-fidelity PFM simulator and the associated use cases. This study followed a mixed methods design by collecting qualitative and quantitative data from a web-based survey. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and differences between demographic groups were calculated using 2-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov 2-sided tests. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. In total, 66 physiotherapists completed the survey. The most common suggested use cases of the simulator were for training and professional development (56/66, 84.9%), and patient education (48/66, 72.7%). Pelvic organ prolapse and muscle tone function and dysfunction were identified as the most useful PFDs for the simulator to demonstrate. Positional tracking and force sensing were considered important features and there was a preference for a generic over a pathology-specific or patient-specific simulator. A total of 3 themes emerged through the qualitative analysis: prioritizing patient care; representing the variability in anatomy and PFDs for simulator realism; and consideration of the implementation, cost, and accessibility of simulators. There is value in PFM simulators for physiotherapists for multiple use cases. Design recommendations include using realistic materials, demonstrating PFM dynamics, modularity to vary the complexity for different end-users, offering a range of feedback modalities for position and pressure sensing, and ensuring affordability and curriculum integration.

A transparent, high-permittivity elastomeric dielectric material shows potential for light-emitting soft robots and stretchable optoelectronics that can self-heal.

Energy production and storage represent challenges for biodegradable and edible technologies. Here, this study describes an edible energy storage and valve system designed to power pneumatically driven edible robots. The edible pneumatic battery exploits the acid‐base neutralization reaction of food‐grade reactants: under gravity, citric acid mixes with sodium bicarbonate powder to produce a steady release of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. The generated gas pressure causes deformation of a connected edible pneumatic actuator. When the gas pressure reaches a threshold, an edible valve automatically releases the pressurized gas, which lets the actuator return to its resting state. The entire system, whose characteristics are consistent with model estimates, is fully edible and enables self‐sustained and repetitive bending motion of the edible actuator. This design is scalable in terms of sizes (30–50 mm diameter), operation time (20–650 s), and CO2 gas generation rate (0.1–1.4 × 10−3 mol s−1). Additionally, the actuator's motion can be programmed by modifying the orifice size or the fluidic resistance between the energy source, actuator, and valve. The system is validated by fabricating a fully edible system, and its application is showcased as a foot‐pressed triggered edible actuator that mimics prey behavior to attract predators. This work presents an edible energy source and valve system to power soft, pneumatically driven edible robots. A chemical reaction between sodium bicarbonate and citric acid generates carbon dioxide gas, and a pressure‐triggered edible valve enables self‐repetitive motion of the edible actuator. The system is scalable, programmable, and demonstrated through a foot‐triggered actuator that potentially mimics prey to attract wildlife.