Abstract :
[en] At the crossing between motor control neuroscience and robotics system theory, the paper presents
a rhythmic experiment that is amenable both to handy laboratory implementation and simple
mathematical modeling. The experiment is based on an impact juggling task, requiring the coordination
of two upper-limb effectors and some phase-locking with the trajectories of one or several juggled
objects. We describe the experiment, its implementation and the mathematical model used for the
analysis. Our underlying research focuses on the role of sensory feedback in rhythmic tasks. In a robotic
implementation of our experiment, we study the minimum feedback that is required to achieve robust
control. A limited source of feedback, measuring only the impact times, is shown to give promising results.
A second field of investigation concerns the human behavior in the same impact juggling task. We study
how a variation of the tempo induces a transition between two distinct control strategies with different
sensory feedback requirements. Analogies and differences between the robotic and human behaviors are
obviously of high relevance in such a flexible setup.
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