Katherine J. Kuchenbecker directs the Haptic Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany. She was previously an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania, where she held the Class of 1940 Bicentennial Endowed Term Chair and a secondary appointment in Computer and Information Science. Kuchenbecker earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University in 2006 and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University. Her research centers on haptic interfaces, which enable a user to touch virtual and distant objects as though they were real and within reach, as well as haptic sensing systems, which allow robots to physically interact with objects and people.
Kuchenbecker delivered a TEDYouth talk on haptics in 2012, and she has received several honors including a 2009 NSF CAREER Award, the 2012 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Academic Early Career Award, and a 2014 Penn Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Her team has won various best paper and best demonstration awards, and she frequently gives keynote talks at conferences. She was co-chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics from 2014 to 2017, and she co-chaired the IEEE Haptics Symposium in 2016 and 2018.
Oquendo, Y. A., Riddle, E. W., Hiller, D., Blinman, T. A., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Automatically Rating Trainee Skill at a Pediatric Laparoscopic Suturing Task
Surgical Endoscopy, 32(4):1840-1857, April 2018 (article)
Ambron, E., Miller, A., Kuchenbecker, K. J., Buxbaum, L. J., Coslett, H. B.
Immersive Low-Cost Virtual Reality Treatment for Phantom Limb Pain: Evidence from Two Cases
Frontiers in Neurology, 9(67):1-7, 2018 (article)
Bur, A. M., Gomez, E. D., Newman, J. G., Weinstein, G. S., Bert W. O’Malley, J., Rassekh, C. H., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Evaluation of high-fidelity simulation as a training tool in transoral robotic surgery
Laryngoscope, 127(12):2790-2795, December 2017 (article)
Brown, J. D., O’Brien, C. E., Leung, S. C., Dumon, K. R., Lee, D. I., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Using contact forces and robot arm accelerations to automatically rate surgeon skill at peg transfer
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 64(9):2263-2275, September 2017 (article)
Ng, C., Zareinia, K., Sun, Q., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Stiffness Perception during Pinching and Dissection with Teleoperated Haptic Forceps
In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), pages: 456-463, August 2017 (inproceedings)
Culbertson, H., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Ungrounded haptic augmented reality system for displaying texture and friction
IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 22(4):1839-1849, August 2017 (article)
Brown, J. D., Fernandez, J. N., Cohen, S. P., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
A Wrist-Squeezing Force-Feedback System for Robotic Surgery Training
In Proceedings of the IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), pages: 107-112, June 2017 (inproceedings)
Young, E. M., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Design of a Parallel Continuum Manipulator for 6-DOF Fingertip Haptic Display
In Proceedings of the IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), pages: 599-604, June 2017, Finalist for best poster paper (inproceedings)
Burka, A., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Handling Scan-time Parameters in Haptic Surface Classification
In Proceedings of the IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), pages: 424-429, June 2017 (inproceedings)
Hu, S., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
High Magnitude Unidirectional Haptic Force Display Using a Motor/Brake Pair and a Cable
In Proceedings of the IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), pages: 394-399, June 2017 (inproceedings)
Fitter, N. T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Physically Interactive Exercise Games with a Baxter Robot
Hands-on demonstration presented at the 2017 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), June 2017 (misc)
Gurari, N., Okamura, A. M., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Perception of force and stiffness in the presence of low-frequency haptic noise
PLoS ONE, 12(6):e0178605, June 2017 (article)
Burka, A., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Proton Pack: Visuo-Haptic Surface Data Recording
Hands-on demonstration presented at the 2017 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), June 2017 (misc)
Hu, S., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Teaching a Robot to Collaborate with a Human Via Haptic Teleoperation
Work-in-progress paper (2 pages) presented at the 2017 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), June 2017 (misc)
Kuchenbecker, K. J., Parajon, R., Maggio, M. P.
Evaluation of a vibrotactile simulator for dental caries detection
Simulation in Healthcare, 12(3):148-156, June 2017 (article)
Burka, A., Rajvanshi, A., Allen, S., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Proton 2: Increasing the Sensitivity and Portability of a Visuo-haptic Surface Interaction Recorder
In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pages: 439-445, May 2017 (inproceedings)
Carlson, J., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
An Interactive Augmented-Reality Video Training Platform for the da Vinci Surgical System
Short paper presented at the Workshop on C4 Surgical Robots at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2017 (misc)
Fitter, N. T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Hand-Clapping Games with a Baxter Robot
Hands-on demonstration presented at ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), March 2017 (misc)
Oquendo, Y. A., Riddle, E. W., Hiller, D., Blinman, T. A., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Automatic OSATS Rating of Trainee Skill at a Pediatric Laparoscopic Suturing Task
Surgical Endoscopy, Proceedings of the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), 31(Supplement 1):S28, Springer, March 2017 (article)
Burka, A., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
How Much Haptic Surface Data is Enough?
Workshop paper (5 pages) presented at the AAAI Spring Symposium on Interactive Multi-Sensory Object Perception for Embodied Agents, March 2017 (misc)
Culbertson, H., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Importance of Matching Physical Friction, Hardness, and Texture in Creating Realistic Haptic Virtual Surfaces
IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 10(1):63-74, January 2017 (article)
Khurshid, R. P., Fitter, N. T., Fedalei, E. A., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Effects of Grip-Force, Contact, and Acceleration Feedback on a Teleoperated Pick-and-Place Task
IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 10(1):40-53, January 2017 (article)
Fitter, N. T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Qualitative User Reactions to a Hand-Clapping Humanoid Robot
In Social Robotics: 8th International Conference, ICSR 2016, Kansas City, MO, USA, November 1-3, 2016 Proceedings, 9979, pages: 317-327, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer International Publishing, November 2016, Oral presentation given by Fitter (inproceedings)
Fitter, N. T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Designing and Assessing Expressive Open-Source Faces for the Baxter Robot
In Social Robotics: 8th International Conference, ICSR 2016, Kansas City, MO, USA, November 1-3, 2016 Proceedings, 9979, pages: 340-350, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer International Publishing, November 2016, Oral presentation given by Fitter (inproceedings)
Fitter, N. T., Hawkes, D. T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Rhythmic Timing in Playful Human-Robot Social Motor Coordination
In Social Robotics: 8th International Conference, ICSR 2016, Kansas City, MO, USA, November 1-3, 2016 Proceedings, 9979, pages: 296-305, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer International Publishing, November 2016, Oral presentation given by Fitter (inproceedings)
Fitter, N. T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Using IMU Data to Demonstrate Hand-Clapping Games to a Robot
In Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 851 - 856, October 2016, Interactive presentation given by Fitter (inproceedings)
Burka, A., Hu, S., Helgeson, S., Krishnan, S., Gao, Y., Hendricks, L. A., Darrell, T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
ProtonPack: A Visuo-Haptic Data Acquisition System for Robotic Learning of Surface Properties
In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI), pages: 58-65, sep 2016, Oral presentation given by Burka (inproceedings)
Fitter, N. T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Equipping the Baxter Robot with Human-Inspired Hand-Clapping Skills
In Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, pages: 105-112, August 2016, Oral presentation given by Fitter (inproceedings)
Hu, S., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Reproducing a Laser Pointer Dot on a Secondary Projected Screen
In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), pages: 1645-1650, July 2016, Oral presentation given by Hu (inproceedings)
Fjeld, K., Hu, S., Kuchenbecker, K. J., Vasudevan, E. V.
Design and evaluation of a novel mechanical device to improve hemiparetic gait: a case report
In Proceedings of the Biomechanics and Neural Control of Movement Conference (BANCOM), June 2016, Extended abstract. Poster presentation given by Fjeld (inproceedings)
Gao, Y., Hendricks, L. A., Kuchenbecker, K. J., Darrell, T.
Deep Learning for Tactile Understanding From Visual and Haptic Data
In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 536-543, May 2016, Oral presentation given by Gao (inproceedings)
Hui, J. C. T., Block, A. E., Taylor, C. J., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Robust Tactile Perception of Artificial Tumors Using Pairwise Comparisons of Sensor Array Readings
In Proc. IEEE Haptics Symposium, pages: 305-312, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, April 2016, Oral presentation given by Hui (inproceedings)
Brown, J. D., Ibrahim, M., Chase, E. D. Z., Pacchierotti, C., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Data-Driven Comparison of Four Cutaneous Displays for Pinching Palpation in Robotic Surgery
In Proc. IEEE Haptics Symposium, pages: 147-154, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, April 2016, Oral presentation given by Brown (inproceedings)
Brown, J. D., Ibrahim, M., Chase, E. D. Z., Pacchierotti, C., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
One Sensor, Three Displays: A Comparison of Tactile Rendering from a BioTac Sensor
Hands-on demonstration presented at IEEE Haptics Symposium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, April 2016 (misc)
Burka, A., Hu, S., Helgeson, S., Krishnan, S., Gao, Y., Hendricks, L. A., Darrell, T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Design and Implementation of a Visuo-Haptic Data Acquisition System for Robotic Learning of Surface Properties
In Proc. IEEE Haptics Symposium, pages: 350-352, April 2016, Work-in-progress paper. Poster presentation given by Burka (inproceedings)
D. Gomez, E., Aggarwal, R., McMahan, W., Bark, K., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Objective assessment of robotic surgical skill using instrument contact vibrations
Surgical Endoscopy, 30(4):1419-1431, April 2016 (article)
Pacchierotti, C., Prattichizzo, D., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Cutaneous Feedback of Fingertip Deformation and Vibration for Palpation in Robotic Surgery
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 63(2):278-287, February 2016 (article)
Fitter, N. T., Hawkes, D. T., Johnson, M. J., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Designing Human-Robot Exercise Games for Baxter
2016, Late-breaking results report presented at the {\em IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems} (misc)
Fitter, N. T., Huang, Y. E., Mayer, J. P., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
IMU-Mediated Real-Time Human-Baxter Hand-Clapping Interaction
2016, Late-breaking results report presented at the {\em IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems} (misc)
Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Reducing Student Anonymity and Increasing Engagement
University of Pennsylvania Almanac, 62(18):8, November 2015 (article)
Koehn, J. K., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Surgeons and Non-Surgeons Prefer Haptic Feedback of Instrument Vibrations During Robotic Surgery
Surgical Endoscopy, 29(10):2970-2983, October 2015 (article)
Pacchierotti, C., Prattichizzo, D., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Displaying Sensed Tactile Cues with a Fingertip Haptic Device
IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 8(4):384-396, October 2015 (article)
Brown, J. D., O’Brien, C., Miyasaka, K., Dumon, K. R., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Analysis of the Instrument Vibrations and Contact Forces Caused by an Expert Robotic Surgeon Doing FRS Tasks
In Proc. Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics, pages: 75-76, London, England, June 2015, Poster presentation given by Brown (inproceedings)
Culbertson, H., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Should Haptic Texture Vibrations Respond to User Force and Speed?
In IEEE World Haptics Conference, pages: 106 - 112, Evanston, Illinois, USA, June 2015, Oral presentation given by Culbertson (inproceedings)
Burka, A., Hu, S., Krishnan, S., Kuchenbecker, K. J., Hendricks, L. A., Gao, Y., Darrell, T.
Toward a large-scale visuo-haptic dataset for robotic learning
In Proc. CVPR Workshop on the Future of Datasets in Vision, June 2015 (inproceedings)
Fitter, N. T., Neuburger, M., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Enabling the Baxter Robot to Play Hand-Clapping Games
In Proc. IEEE World Haptics Conference, June 2015, Work-in-progress paper. Poster presentation given by Fitter (inproceedings)
Hui, J., Block, A., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Detecting Lumps in Simulated Tissue via Palpation with a BioTac
In Proc. IEEE World Haptics Conference, June 2015, Work-in-progress paper. Poster presentation given by Hui (inproceedings)
Khurshid, R. P., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Data-Driven Motion Mappings Improve Transparency in Teleoperation
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 24(2):132-154, May 2015 (article)
Fitter, N. T., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Using IMU Data to Teach a Robot Hand-Clapping Games
In Proc. IEEE Haptics Symposium, pages: 353-355, April 2015, Work-in-progress paper. Poster presentation given by Fitter (inproceedings)
Bur, A. M., Gomez, E. D., Rassekh, C. H., Newman, J. G., Weinstein, G. S., Kuchenbecker, K. J.
Haptic Feedback in Transoral Robotic Surgery: A Feasibility Study
In Proc. Annual Meeting of the Triological Society at COSM, April 2015, Poster presentation given by Bur (inproceedings)
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