Dynamic interaction of fingertip skin and pin of tactile device

The present paper deals with investigations performed with the aim to study transmitting tactile information into the area of mechanoreceptors of the fingertip skin segment and to estimate the dynamic properties and behavior of the skin by performing numerical analysis. A computational finite element model consisting of four main layers of skin was used for transient analysis of contact dynamic interaction when loading the skin by a moving pin, as well as for modal analysis of skin and analysis of skin stress–strain state under harmonic loading (a plane strain case was studied). Material properties of the skin were assumed as linear elastic because of a very small excitation signal level. The efficiency of the regime of the skin dynamic loading in terms of the tactile signal level was defined on the basis of the strain level in the dermis zone where mechanoreceptors are placed. The possibilities of using vibratory control signal were analyzed.