Dr. Dagmar Sternad
Northeastern University
Talk Title:
Human Actions and Interactions with Complex Objects: A Task-Dynamic Approach
Date:
5November th, 2021
Time:
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm (Presentation)
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm (Discussion & Network)
Abstract:
Dexterous use of tools has been fundamental to human evolution and the capabilities of robotic devices are still a far cry from this extraordinary human skill. However, there is still surprisingly little understanding of how humans control their interaction with the vast variety of objects ubiquitous in everyday life. Much of traditional and current research on motor control has analyzed highly simplified movements in tightly controlled experiments to permit quantitative analysis. The challenge is to obtain rigorous insights without compromising the challenges of realistic task performance. We have developed a task-dynamic approach that starts with analysis of how the task constrains and enables actions and their improvement with practice. Based on mathematical analyses of the modeled task, we study how humans develop strategies that meet complex demands. At the example of two interactive tasks – throwing a ball and transporting a “cup of coffee” – we show that humans develop skill by: 1) finding error-tolerant strategies, 2) optimizing predictability of object dynamics, and 3) exploiting solutions with dynamic stability. These findings are the basis for developing propositions about the controller: complex actions are generated with dynamic primitives, stable modules that overcome substantial delays and noise in the neuro-mechanical system. Extending from these experimental platforms we have developed interventions that assess or help restore functional behavior in neurological patients.
Biography:
Dagmar Sternad is University Distinguished Professor in Biology, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at Northeastern University. She received her BS in Movement Science and Linguistics from the Technical University and Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and her PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Connecticut. From 1995 until 2008, she was Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor at the Pennsylvania State University in Integrated Biosciences. Since 2008, she holds an interdisciplinary appointment as full professor in the departments of Biology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics at Northeastern University in Boston. In 2018 she was promoted to University Distinguished Professor. She is also executive member of the Institute of Experiential Robotics and member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Complex Systems at Northeastern. Her research is documented in over peer-reviewed 200 publications in high-impact journals, conference papers, book chapters, and several books. She has had editorial appointments in several scientific journals and was regular member of an NIH study section and two times elected member of the Executive Board of the Society for Neural Control of Movement. Her research has been continuously supported by the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, American Heart Association, Office of Naval Research, and others. She was recently awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to spend one semester in Rome, Italy.