Katherine J. Kuchenbecker

Phone: 215.573.2786
Email: kuchenbe@seas.upenn.edu
Office: 224 Towne
Research Website: Penn Haptics Group
Personal Website: KJK

EDUCATION:

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 2006 - 2007
Affiliation: NSF Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology
Advisor: Dr. Allison Okamura

Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2006
Dissertation: "Characterizing and controlling the high-frequency dynamics of haptic interfaces"
Advisor: Dr. Günter Niemeyer

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2002

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, with Distinction, Stanford University, 2000

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Haptic (touch-based) interaction
Design and control of haptic interfaces for virtual environments and teleoperation

Improving the realism of haptic feedback

Identification of dynamic systems

Understanding human upper-limb movement

Developing medical devices and medical robotic systems

CLASSES TAUGHT:

MEAM 147: Introduction to Mechanics Lab, Fall 2007.

MEAM 625: Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperation, Spring 2008 and alternate Springs thereafter.

SELECTED AWARDS:

Best Haptic Technology Paper, World Haptics Conference, 2007
Best Student Paper Award, Dynamic Systems and Controls Division, ASME IMECE, 2004
Best Poster Award, Medicine Meets Virtual Reality, 2004
Henry Ford II Scholar, #1 Graduating Student in School of Engineering, Stanford University, 2000
Henry O. Fuchs Memorial Award for excellence in mechanical design, Stanford University, 2000
Best of Program, James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation Design Competition, 2000

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

A. M. Okamura, K. J. Kuchenbecker, and M. Mahvash, Haptic Rendering: Algorithms and Applications. A. K. Peters, to be published in May 2008, ch. 22: Measurement-Based Modeling for Haptic Display.

K. J. Kuchenbecker, D. Ferguson, M. Kutzer, M. Moses, and A. M. Okamura, "The Touch Thimble: Providing fingertip contact feedback during point-force haptic interaction," Mar. 2008, to appear in Proc. IEEE Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems.

K. J. Kuchenbecker, N. Gurari, and A. M. Okamura, "Effects of visual and proprioceptive position feedback on human control of targeted movement," in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, June 2007, pp. 513-524.

J. P. Fiene and K. J. Kuchenbecker, "Shaping event-based haptic transients via an improved understanding of real contact dynamics," in Proc. IEEE World Haptics Conference, March 2007, pp. 170-175, Best Haptic Technology Paper Award.

K. J. Kuchenbecker and G. Niemeyer, "Improving telerobotic touch via high-frequency acceleration matching," in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2006, pp. 3893-3898.

K. J. Kuchenbecker and G. Niemeyer, "Induced master motion in force-reflecting teleoperation," ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, vol. 128, no. 4, pp. 800-810, December 2006.

K. J. Kuchenbecker, J. P. Fiene, and G. Niemeyer, "Improving contact realism through event-based haptic feedback," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 219-230, March/April 2006.

W. R. Provancher, M. R. Cutkosky, K. J. Kuchenbecker, and G. Niemeyer, "Contact location display for haptic perception of curvature and object motion," International Journal of Robotics Research, vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 691-702, Sept. 2005.

G. Niemeyer, K. J. Kuchenbecker, R. Bonneau, P. Mitra, A. Reid, J. Fiene, and G. Weldon, "THUMP: An immersive haptic console for surgical simulation and training," in Proc. Medicine Meets Virtual Reality, Jan. 2004, pp. 272-274, Best Poster Award.