"Bridging Perception and Action: Tactile Guidance, Shared Agency, and the Responsibility Gap in Assistive Hand Navigation Systems"

Abstract :

Human-AI assistive technologies offer a compelling paradigm for studying sensorimotor integration, distributed perception-action loops, and the neurocognitive boundaries of bodily agency. Here we present the Hand Navigation System (HANS). It is rooted in sensory augmentation and tactile guidance for spatial navigation. Pursuing a Wizard-of-Oz approach, we apply these principles to guided grasping movements. Further, based on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), we demonstrate high-level multimodal integration. HANS translates automated computer vision into directional vibrotactile cues, effectively splitting the traditional perception-action loop across a collaborative user-system tandem. By examining this shared agency, we analyse how continuous micro-decisions give rise to responsibility gaps in human-machine symbiosis.

Bio:

Prof. Dr. Peter König is Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück. Trained in physics and medicine, he has worked at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and ETH Zürich, among other places. His research aims to understand the neurophysiological basis of cognitive functions, combining experimental and theoretical approaches to study sensory processing and sensorimotor integration in the mammalian cortex under natural conditions. A particular focus is the role of top-down signals and their relation to fast neuronal dynamics, learning and plasticity, with the insights also being transferred to real-world applications.

Website: https://www.uni-osnabrueck.de/fb8/ikw/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/neurobiopsychologie/team