DEVELOPMENT OF A TACTILE AND SLIP SENSOR CONTROLLED PROSTHETIC HAND SYSTEM

Supported by the latest sensor and microcontroller technologies, prosthetic hands have been widely used to reclaim the human functionaries. Among these, the most advanced prosthetic hand was controlled by the tactile and EMG singles. However, for a slippery object, attention has to be taken for the inexperienced users who need to control the shrinkage of the wrist flexor carefully. In this paper, the authors presented a prosthetic hand control system using PVDF film sensor to provide both tactile and slip force feedback signals to operate the hand. The PVDF film sensor used for this control system was specifically developed to detect both tactile and slip force between the prosthetic finger and object. The method of distinguishing two signals was described. A prototype system was constructed using a microcontroller to process the signal from the sensor and provide control signal to the motors operate the prosthetic hand. The test result of the prototype device shown that comparing with the one without slippery signal feedback, this system was easy to operate for an inexperienced user.