Effect of Modulated Robotically Rendered Viscosity during Hand Grasping on Brain Activity

Robotic rehabilitation systems may benefit from haptic rendering to provide sensorimotor training to patients with acquired brain injuries. Haptic rendering usually involves modulating stiffness and viscosity to simulate real-world hand-object interactions. Yet, the effect of rendering different viscosities on brain activity remains mainly unexplored. To fill this gap, we ran an experiment with twelve unimpaired participants who were asked to grasp and release virtual liquid dispensers whose stiffness and viscosity were rendered using a haptic hand rehabilitation robot. All liquid dispensers had identical wall stiffness but contained liquids of three different viscosities. We also incorporated control conditions without viscosity and stiffness rendering, involving both passive and active grasping movements. Electroencephalography data were recorded during the experiment. We found stronger ipsilateral somatosensory mu and beta event-related desynchronization during movements with viscosity and stiffness rendering compared to the control conditions, while different viscosity levels did not result in significant variations. Furthermore, no significant electroencephalography activity differences were found between control conditions. These findings indicate that while viscosity and stiffness rendering strengthens brain activity, modulating viscosity levels does not significantly affect this response. This insight may contribute to the design of rehabilitation games by informing the choice of viscosity rendering parameters.