Towards Humanlike Social Touch for Prosthetics and Sociable Robotics: Three-Dimensional Finite Element Simulations of Synthetic Finger Phalanges

Cabibihan, John-John; Ge, Shuzhi Sam

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-03983-6_12

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The availability of artificial hands with lifelike appearance but not lifelike softness poses a perception problem to the person that these hands will touch. As such, finding synthetic materials that have similar properties to that of the human skin becomes important [19][20][21].…”

Section: Results and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prosthetic finger phalanges with lifelike skin compliance for low-force social touching interactions

Cabibihan

Pradipta

2011

J NeuroEngineering Rehabil

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BackgroundProsthetic arms and hands that can be controlled by the user's electromyography (EMG) signals are emerging. Eventually, these advanced prosthetic devices will be expected to touch and be touched by other people. As realistic as they may look, the currently available prosthetic hands have physical properties that are still far from the characteristics of human skins because they are much stiffer. In this paper, different configurations of synthetic finger phalanges have been investigated for their skin compliance behaviour and have been compared with the phalanges of the human fingers and a phalanx from a commercially available prosthetic hand.MethodsHandshake tests were performed to identify which areas on the human hand experience high contact forces. After these areas were determined, experiments were done on selected areas using an indenting probe to obtain the force-displacement curves. Finite element simulations were used to compare the force-displacement results of the synthetic finger phalanx designs with that of the experimental results from the human and prosthetic finger phalanges. The simulation models were used to investigate the effects of (a) varying the internal topology of the finger phalanx and (b) varying different materials for the internal and external layers.Results and ConclusionsDuring handshake, the high magnitudes of contact forces were observed at the areas where the full grasping enclosure of the other person's hand can be achieved. From these areas, the middle phalanges of the (a) little, (b) ring, and (c) middle fingers were selected. The indentation experiments on these areas showed that a 2 N force corresponds to skin tissue displacements of more than 2 mm. The results from the simulation model show that introducing an open pocket with 2 mm height on the internal structure of synthetic finger phalanges increased the skin compliance of the silicone material to 235% and the polyurethane material to 436%, as compared to a configuration with a solid internal geometry. In addition, the study shows that an indentation of 2 N force on the synthetic skin with an open pocket can also achieve a displacement of more than 2 mm, while the finger phalanx from a commercially available prosthetic hand can only achieve 0.2 mm.

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Section: Results and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prosthetic finger phalanges with lifelike skin compliance for low-force social touching interactions

Cabibihan

Pradipta

2011

J NeuroEngineering Rehabil

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“…A tactile sensor is a device that can measure a contact event through touch [ 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ]. Touch plays a crucial role in social communication and interactions [ 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ], and may be severely affected by the challenges in tactile perception, which are commonly observed in children with ASD. This results in either hyper- or hypo-sensitivity in these children.…”

Section: A Taxonomy Of Sensors For Asd Screening and Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensing Technologies for Autism Spectrum Disorder Screening and Intervention

Cabibihan

Javed

Al‐Dosari

et al. 2016

Sensors

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This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in sensing technologies that are relevant for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) screening and therapy. This disorder is characterized by difficulties in social communication, social interactions, and repetitive behaviors. It is diagnosed during the first three years of life. Early and intensive interventions have been shown to improve the developmental trajectory of the affected children. The earlier the diagnosis, the sooner the intervention therapy can begin, thus, making early diagnosis an important research goal. Technological innovations have tremendous potential to assist with early diagnosis and improve intervention programs. The need for careful and methodological evaluation of such emerging technologies becomes important in order to assist not only the therapists and clinicians in their selection of suitable tools, but to also guide the developers of the technologies in improving hardware and software. In this paper, we survey the literatures on sensing technologies for ASD and we categorize them into eye trackers, movement trackers, electrodermal activity monitors, tactile sensors, vocal prosody and speech detectors, and sleep quality assessment devices. We assess their effectiveness and study their limitations. We also examine the challenges faced by this growing field that need to be addressed before these technologies can perform up to their theoretical potential.

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