Publications related to Reconciling Being in-Control vs. Being Helped for the Execution of Complex Movements in VR

Customizing the human-avatar mapping based on EEG error related potentials during avatar-based interaction

Ronan Boulic, Ricardo Andres Chavarriaga Lozano, Bruno Herbelin, José del Rocio Millán Ruiz, Olaf Blanke, Fumiaki Iwane, Thibault Serge Mario Porssut

Objective. A key challenge of virtual reality (VR) applications is to maintain a reliable human-avatar mapping. Users may lose the sense of controlling (sense of agency), owning (sense of body ownership), or being located (sense of self-location) inside th ...

2024

Augmenting locomotor perception by remapping tactile foot sensation to the back

Mohamed Bouri, Olaf Blanke, Oliver Alan Kannape, Atena Fadaeijouybari, Selim Jean Habiby Alaoui

Background :Sensory reafferents are crucial to correct our posture and movements, both reflexively and in a cognitively driven manner. They are also integral to developing and maintaining a sense of agency for our actions. In cases of compromised reafferen ...

BioMed Central2024

Changes in spatial self-consciousness elicit grid cell–like representation in the entorhinal cortex

Olaf Blanke, Hyeongdong Park, Hyukjun Moon, Baptiste Gauthier, Emanuela De Falco, Louis Philippe Albert, Corentin Marie Hervé Robert Tasu

Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex (EC) encode an individual’s location in space, integrating both environmental and multisensory bodily cues. Notably, body-derived signals are also primary signals for the sense of self. While studies have demonstrated th ...

2024

Non-invasive stimulation of the human striatum disrupts reinforcement learning of motor skills

Elena Beanato, Esra Neufeld, Friedhelm Christoph Hummel, Takuya Morishita, Maximilian Jonas Wessel, Traian Popa, Pierre Theopistos Vassiliadis, Julie Duqué, Fabienne Windel

Reinforcement feedback can improve motor learning, but the underlying brain mechanisms remain underexplored. In particular, the causal contribution of specific patterns of oscillatory activity within the human striatum is unknown. To address this question, ...

Nature Portfolio2024

In case of doubt, one follows one's self: the implicit guidance of the embodied self-avatar

Ronan Boulic, Bruno Herbelin, Loën Boban

The sense of embodiment in virtual reality (VR) is commonly understood as the subjective experience that one's physical body is substituted by a virtual counterpart, and is typically achieved when the avatar's body, seen from a first-person view, moves lik ...

2024

Secure Interface Design Leveraging Hardware/Software Support

Atri Bhattacharyya

Computer systems rely heavily on abstraction to manage the exponential growth of complexity across hardware and software. Due to practical considerations of compatibility between components of these complex systems across generations, developers have favou ...

EPFL2024

Accelerometry as a tool for measuring the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation

Pierre Theopistos Vassiliadis, Julie Duqué

Objective: We predicted that accelerometry would be a viable alternative to electromyography (EMG) for assessing fundamental Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) measurements (e.g. Resting Motor Threshold (RMT), recruitment curves, latencies). New Metho ...

Elsevier2024

An objective skill assessment framework for microsurgical anastomosis based on ALI scores

Aude Billard, Anaëlle Olivia Marie Manon, Kunpeng Yao, Soheil Gholami, Torstein Ragnar Meling

IntroductionThe current assessment and standardization of microsurgical skills are subjective, posing challenges in reliable skill evaluation. We aim to address these limitations by developing a quantitative and objective framework for accurately assessing ...

Springer Wien2024

Robotically-induced auditory-verbal hallucinations: combining self-monitoring and strong perceptual priors

Olaf Blanke, Nathan Quentin Faivre, Fosco Bernasconi, Pavo Orepic, Melissa Faggella

Background. Inducing hallucinations under controlled experimental conditions in nonhallucinating individuals represents a novel research avenue oriented toward understanding complex hallucinatory phenomena, avoiding confounds observed in patients. Audito ...

2024

From finger animation to full-body embodiment of avatars with different morphologies and proportions

Mathias Guy Delahaye

VR (Virtual Reality) is a real-time simulation that creates the subjective illusion of being in a virtual world. This thesis explores how integrating the user's body and fingers can be achieved and beneficial for the user to experience VR. At the advent of ...

EPFL2023

Reinforcement learning approach to control an inverted pendulum: A general framework for educational purposes

Jesus Sanchez Rodriguez

Machine learning is often cited as a new paradigm in control theory, but is also often viewed as empirical and less intuitive for students than classical model-based methods. This is particularly the case for reinforcement learning, an approach that does n ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2023

Systematic design of a multi-input multi-output controller by model-based decoupling: a demonstration on TCV using multi-species gas injection

Basil Duval, Christian Gabriel Theiler, Cristian Galperti, Artur Perek

In this paper, we present the first results of a systematically designed multi-input multi-output gas-injection controller on Tokamak a Configuration Variable (TCV). We demonstrate the simultaneous real-time control of the NII emission front position and l ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2023

Saliency prediction in 360° architectural scenes: Performance and impact of daylight variations

Marilyne Andersen, Sabine Süsstrunk, Kynthia Chamilothori, Bahar Aydemir, Caroline Karmann, Seungryong Kim

Saliency models are image-based prediction models that estimate human visual attention. Such models, when applied to architectural spaces, could pave the way for design decisions where visual attention is taken into account. In this study, we tested the pe ...

2023

Human Interactive Robotic Surfaces for Physical Immersion

Fabio Zuliani

Computers have long been augmenting human capabilities and communication, and with emerging technologies, physical immersion in virtual worlds is now attainable. These advancements push the boundaries of human potential, allowing designers, architects, eng ...

EPFL2023

A mirror therapy system using virtual reality and an actuated exoskeleton for the recovery of hand motor impairments: a study of acceptability, usability, and embodiment

Luca Randazzo, Antonio Paolillo

Hand motor impairments are one of the main causes of disabilities worldwide. Rehabilitation procedures like mirror therapy are given crucial importance. In the traditional setup, the patient moves the healthy hand in front of a mirror; the view of the mirr ...

Nature Portfolio2023

Playing Brains: The Ethical Challenges Posed by Silicon Sentience and Hybrid Intelligence in DishBrain

The convergence of human and artificial intelligence is currently receiving considerable scholarly attention. Much debate about the resulting Hybrid Minds focuses on the integration of artificial intelligence into the human brain through intelligent brain- ...

2023

Real-time Self-contact Retargeting of Avatars down to Finger Level

Ronan Boulic, Bruno Herbelin, Mathias Guy Delahaye

We interact with the world through a body that includes hands and fingers. Likewise, providing an avatar allowing the control of a virtual body with fingers is an important step to improve the user experience in VR. When the user and their avatar skeleton ...

The Eurographics Association2023

Neuronal correlates of goal-directed sensorimotor transformation in sensory, motor and higher-order cortical areas

Anastasiia Oryshchuk

An important function of the brain is to interpret incoming sensory information from the outside world to guide adaptive behavior. Understanding how and where sensory information is transformed into motor commands in a context- and learning-dependent manne ...

EPFL2023

EEG signature of breaks in embodiment in VR

Ronan Boulic, Ricardo Andres Chavarriaga Lozano, Bruno Herbelin, José del Rocio Millán Ruiz, Olaf Blanke, Fumiaki Iwane, Thibault Serge Mario Porssut

The brain mechanism of embodiment in a virtual body has grown a scientific interest recently, with a particular focus on providing optimal virtual reality (VR) experiences. Disruptions from an embodied state to a less- or non-embodied state, denominated Br ...

2023

Data-driven Methods for Control: from Linear to Lifting

Yingzhao Lian

The progress towards intelligent systems and digitalization relies heavily on the use of automation technology. However, the growing diversity of control objects presents significant challenges for traditional control approaches, as they are highly depende ...

EPFL2023