Work

Tactile feedback in upper limb prosthetic devices using flexible textile force sensors

Year: 2014

Type: conference-paper

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.

Source: IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)

DOI: 10.1109/biorob.2014.6913762

Authors: Luke Osborn, Wang Wei Lee, Rahul Kaliki, Nitish Thakor

Institutions: Johns Hopkins University, National University of Singapore, Infinite Biomedical Technologies (United States)

Language: English

Topic: Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Johns Hopkins University, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke