Slippage control in hand prostheses by sensing grasping forces and sliding motion

Controlling grasp and avoiding object slippage is very important in hand prosthetic systems. At present the amputee must use vision to monitor grasp, and adjust grasping force based on this estimate. We investigate the problem of measuring normal and tangential forces at the gripper-object interface, and design a slip tactile sensing system for this purpose. In this paper we discuss the design, fabrication and testing of a tactile sensing system intended for application to a myoelectrically controlled hand prosthesis, and outline a control strategy for preventing object slippage using sensory feedback