[pweezy]

It must feel odd and incredibly difficult to control an exoskeleton (or any motion restoring device) without any proprioceptive or tactile feedback. I imagine it's like having someone else move your limbs, or for a paraplegic, like using your arms to move your legs.

If we find a way to trigger those sensations, perhaps with separate brain implants, it would be a huge breakthrough and make learning to control the device much faster.

I'm sure that's far from an easy task, though.

[velox_io]

It's not so different from an electric wheelchair, the major difference is that your eye-line isn't crotch height. Plus, there's no reason they cannot add some type of haptic feedback. It doesn't even need to be natural or realistic as the body/ brain will adjust.

I'm a disabled person myself (I prefer to use crutches as the world isn't built for wheelchairs, that's another topic). I've been injured since 2012 and they now feel like an extension of myself (a little like having really long arms, I use them to push buttons/ switches and grab stuff). Now trying to walk without them feels VERY alien (and I often fall over if I put too much weight on my injured leg). With crutches; I walk faster than most people (they have suspension!), can climb stairs easier than somebody who is obese, even on days I can't even put my foot on the ground let alone weight-bear. The biggest limitation is the lack of hands to carry stuff.

The point I was making is that while aids/ devices may seem primitive and a poor substitute for what they're trying to replace, the difference they can make to an individual can be huge!

Repairing nerve damage is one of the last frontiers of modern medicine, but it is advancing, slowly...

[bobbygoodlatte]

You might enjoy this TED talk from last year from Hugh Herr. He and MIT developed an interface that allows proprioceptive sense in a bionic limb. Pretty wild stuff. https://www.ted.com/talks/hugh_herr_how_we_ll_become_cyborgs...

[Intermernet]

I love Hugh Herr. I first encountered him in the 90s when he was doing custom prosthetics for rock climbing and then I lost track of his work. Next thing I know he's doing stuff like the talk you linked to. He's truly inspirational, and humbling in what he achieves.

[yomly]

Dunno - we're very good at filling in the gaps

I remember when playing the original PS3 my brain was imaging vibrations in the controller when the screen rumbled (back when the original controllers had no haptic feedback)

Obviously it would be better to provide more feedback but I am bullish on humans being able to adapt and the brain finding means of "faking" feedback or finding second order proxies

[laumars]

> Obviously it would be better to provide more feedback but I am bullish on humans being able to adapt and the brain finding means of "faking" feedback or finding second order proxies

I couldn't see that happening in the same way as your anecdote. We use touch sensation for more than just an accompaniment to visual clues:

* It's used as a pressure feedback, eg knowing how tightly to grip an object so that we don't crush it nor let it slip from our fingers

* It's used to identify dangers, like sharp objects or extreme temperatures

* Plus we use it an awful lot to for feedback on stuff we're not even looking at (eg touch typing, using in car controls while driving, getting in and out of bed when tired, blowing our nose, etc)

I'm sure some of that last point could be resolved if we learn to rely on muscle memory with the loss of any tactile feedback but the former two points would be harder to workaround without it said feedback.

Also, if you can excuse the nitpick (fellow retro gamer here) but...

> I remember when playing the original PS3...(back when the original controllers had no haptic feedback)

I assume you mean "original Playstation"? The PS3 definitely had a rumble unit built in.

[garaetjjte]

>I assume you mean "original Playstation"? The PS3 definitely had a rumble unit built in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixaxis

>The legal battle led to a decision to remove the vibration capabilities from the PS3 controller's initial design, which became known as Sixaxis.

[laumars]

Oh wow. Today I learned something new. Thank you for that link.

[jacobush]

If you have touch sense left on a piece of skin, maybe not. An actuator matrix on a piece of skin should work, taking advantage of neuroplasticity. (There was a similar device "projecting" a camera image on the tongue? with electricity.)