Multimodal tactile feedback for upper-limb prostheses: embodiment and performance
Official title: ENG: Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Feedback Device Fully Integrated Within a Prosthesis for Users With Upper Limb Amputation. IT: Valutazione Dell'Efficacia di un Dispositivo di Feedback Completamente Integrato All'Interno di Una Protesi, Per Utenti Che Presentano Amputazione Dell'Arto Superiore.
Run by University of Pisa · NCT07418645 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This tests whether adding pressure and vibration feedback to a robotic forearm prosthesis helps people with transradial amputations feel and control the artificial hand more naturally.
Quick facts
| Study type | Interventional |
|---|---|
| Ages | 18 Years to 80 Years |
| Sex | All |
| Enrollment | 9 (estimated) |
| Sponsor | University of Pisa Academic / other |
| Locations | 1 site (Pisa, PI) |
| Status | Recruiting |
| Started | January 9, 2026 |
| Main results expected | August 2026 |
| Study ends | December 2026 |
| Registry record updated | February 18, 2026 |
| Trial ID | NCT07418645 on ClinicalTrials.gov |
Is this trial a fit for you?
✓Likely a good fit
Ideal candidates are adults with a unilateral transradial amputation, an active (K4) functional level, and the ability to understand consent and participate in experimental sessions.
✕Probably not a fit
Patients unlikely to benefit include those with bilateral transradial amputation, significant cognitive, vision, or hearing impairments, uncontrolled medical or neurological conditions, severe stump pain, or other exclusionary comorbidities.
A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.
What this trial studies
The study fits small inflatable pressure chambers and vibrating actuators to the residual arm to deliver pressure, vibration, or both while participants use a robotic hand. Participants perform functional tasks while researchers measure sense of ownership, perceived control, task performance, and any discomfort or confusion from combined stimuli. The protocol compares single-mode (pressure or vibration) versus combined feedback to see which produces the best embodiment and functional outcomes. Enrollment is limited to unilateral transradial amputees with an active (K4) lifestyle at the University Hospital of Pisa.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could make prosthesis use feel more natural and improve the ability to perform daily activities by restoring touch-like feedback.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies using vibrotactile or pressure feedback have shown promising improvements in prosthesis control and embodiment, but simultaneous multimodal integration is less well established.
Who can join: the full rules
Show full inclusion / exclusion criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Presence of a stump at the transradial level * Active lifestyle (i.e., K-level K4, according to Medicare functional level classification) * Ability to understand and provide Informed Consent to participate in the study - Ability to participate in experimental acquisitions Exclusion Criteria: * Bilateral transradial amputation * Learning disabilities * Inability to understand the informed consent form * History or evidence of any medical, neurological or psychiatric conditions, which may affect brain function, metabolism, balance or motion, perception, representing, thus, a contraindication to the study (also stump pain or tenderness), other than the medical conditions or pathologies that have caused the upper-limb amputation * Hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and other endocrine diseases, neuromuscular diseases, malignancies * Vision and/or hearing problems severe enough to interfere with experimental procedures * Carrier of infectious diseases * Alcoholism or other substance abuse
Where it's running
-
Department of Neurorehabilitation, Univeristy Hospital of Pisa
Pisa, Pi, Italy Recruiting
Study contacts
- Study coordinator: Valentina Azzollini, MD
- Email: valentina.azzollini@unipi.it
- Phone: +39 050996734
Similar studies
Other studies for the same condition or treatment. Recruiting studies are listed first.
-
Neuro20 electrical stimulation suit to improve autonomic control, muscle performance, and walking after amputation or neurologic injury
This will test whether wearing the Neuro20 electrical stimulation suit helps people at least one week after an amputation or neurologic injury (stroke, spinal cord injury, or brain injury) improve autonomic function, muscle strength, and walking.
-
Exercise ECG to tell hypertensive heart disease from obstructive CAD
This study tests whether exercise ECG can distinguish heart problems caused by high blood pressure from those caused by obstructive coronary artery disease in patients being evaluated for chest pain.
-
ICU Delirium Playbook: Training for ICU Nurses
This program tests a multimedia training resource to help ICU nurses better screen for and manage delirium in critically ill patients.
-
Effects of statins and hormone therapy on coagulation in menopausal women with high cholesterol
This study tests whether adding a statin to estrogen-progestin hormone therapy changes the blood’s clotting profile in menopausal women with high cholesterol who need hormone therapy.
-
Bleeding after oral soft tissue biopsy in people taking DOAC blood thinners
This study will test whether continuing DOAC blood thinners is safe for people having an excisional oral soft tissue biopsy by comparing bleeding in 50 patients on uninterrupted DOACs with 50 patients not on anticoagulants.
-
Bioperio® protocol for treating periodontitis
This project tests the Bioperio® protocol — professional cleaning, oral hygiene coaching, full-mouth subgingival instrumentation, and in severe pockets an enamel matrix protein application — in adults with untreated periodontitis.
How to take part
- Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
- Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
- Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.