Remote Tongue-Based Control of a Wheelchair Mounted Assistive Robotic Manipulator and the Effect of Adaptive Semi-Automation

Increasing the independence of individuals with tetraplegia is a challenging task. One potential solution is to allow for use of an assistive robotic manipulator (ARM), when solving tasks in personal and remote space. There is a lack in available control interfaces that are suitable for severely disabled individuals. The aim of this paper is twofold: to allow for remote tongue-based control of an ARM and, to study the effect of semi-automation when compared with full manual control of an ARM. Ten non-disabled individuals participated in a two-day experiment where they were asked to drive a wheelchair mounted ARM away from the participant and out of sight. Thereafter, they should either pick up a strawberry or a bottle from a table. All the participants successfully finished three trials for three different control methods: 1) manual control (MA), 2) adaptive level semi-automation (SA), and 3) fixed level semi-automation (FA). The data was analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. When grasping the strawberry, there was a significant decrease in the gripping time (60.16 ± 9.13 vs. 90.62 ± 10.06, p = 0.012) and number of used commands (0.73 ± 0.07 vs. 0.86 ± 0.09, p = 0.03) when using FA compared to MA. When grasping the bottle, the SA showed a significant reduction in gripping time (32.30 ± 3.09 vs. 66.15 ± 9.77, p = 0.022) and number of used commands (0.63 ± 0.05 vs. 0.85 ± 0.09, p<0.001) compared with MA. This paper is a step in the direction of providing severely paralyzed individuals with a way to increase their independence and overall quality of life.