Title :
Tactile feedback in upper limb prosthetic devices using flexible textile force sensors
Author :
Osborn, Luke ; Wang Wei Lee ; Kaliki, Rahul ; Thakor, Nitish
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Biomed. Eng., Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD, USA
Abstract :
Many upper limb amputees are faced with the difficult challenge of using a prosthesis that lacks tactile sensing. State of the art research caliber prosthetic hands are often equipped with sophisticated sensors that provide valuable information regarding the prosthesis and its surrounding environment. Unfortunately, most commercial prosthetic hands do not contain any tactile sensing capabilities. In this paper, a textile based tactile sensor system was designed, built, and evaluated for use with upper limb prosthetic devices. Despite its simplicity, we demonstrate the ability of the sensors to determine object contact and perturbations due to slip during a grasping task with a prosthetic hand. This suggests the use of low-cost, customizable, textile sensors as part of a closed-loop tactile feedback system for monitoring grasping forces specifically in an upper limb prosthetic device.
Keywords :
closed loop systems; force control; force feedback; force sensors; grippers; perturbation techniques; prosthetics; tactile sensors; textiles; closed-loop tactile feedback system; grasping force monitoring; grasping task; object contact; perturbation; textile based tactile sensor system; textile force sensor; upper limb prosthetic device; Force; Grasping; Prosthetic hand; Tactile sensors; Textiles;
Conference_Titel :
Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (2014 5th IEEE RAS & EMBS International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Sao Paulo
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-3126-2
DOI :
10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913762