Sensorimotor Skill Communication: A Literature Review

Abstract

A sensorimotor skill is a sequence of motions generated in response to external stimuli and aiming to accomplish a particular task. It can be communicated to reproduce the task in a distant environment with similar settings. In this work, we conceptualize a multi-modal sensorimotor skill communication system that incorporates modeling, simulation, and evaluation of the sensorimotor skill. The proposed sensorimotor skill communication system can be applied for learning a specific style of human sensorimotor skill and teaching the skill to distant learners, which can be implemented in a variety of applications such as Tele-consultation, Tele-diagnosis, Tele-treatment, Tele-monitoring, and Tele-support. To understand the processes behind the communication of sensorimotor skill we review the representation of a human sensorimotor system from the neurobiological perspective. Then we analyze the existing literature on sensorimotor skill communication systems and propose a taxonomy of currently available methods for sensorimotor skill modeling, simulation, and evaluation. Furthermore, we propose a benchmark for evaluating the quality of the sensorimotor skill communication system. We present a case study aiming to demonstrate modeling the dental sensorimotor skill of periodontal probing. Lastly, we discuss challenges and limitations and provide perspectives for future research in developing sensorimotor skill communication systems.

Keywords

• Haptics and haptic interfaces
• learning from demonstration
• sensorimotor learning
• virtual reality and interfaces