Development of cylindrical-type finger force measuring system using two-axis force/moment sensor and its characteristic evaluation

Abstract

"Some patients can't use their hands because of inherent and acquired paralysis of their fingers. Their fingers can recoverwith rehabilitative training, and the extent of rehabilitation can be judged by grasping a cylindrical-object with their fingers. Atpresent, the cylindrical-object used in hospitals is only a cylinder which cannot measure grasping force of the fingers. Therefore, doctors must judge the extent of rehabilitation by watching patients' fingers as they grasp the cylinder. A cylindrical-type finger forcemeasuring system which can measure the grasping force of patients' fingers should be developed. This paper looks at thedevelopment of a cylindrical-type finger force measuring system with two-axis force/moment sensor which can measure graspingforce. The two-axis force/moment sensor was designed and fabricated, and the high-speed force measuring device was designed andmanufactured by using DSP (digital signal processing). Also, cylindrical-type finger force measuring system was developed using thedeveloped two-axis force/moment sensor and the high-speed force measuring device, and the grasping force tests of men wereperformed using the developed system. The tests confirm that the average finger forces of right and left hands for men were about186N and 172N respectively. ? ICROS 2011.