Hi All,
Thank you for all the suggestions. As a number of you were also
interested in a similar device, so i have attached a list of the
replies.
Thanks,
Best Regards,
Shashank Raina
Biomechanics Laboratory
University of Southern California
Original Question.
Hi All,
I am planning to make a hand force/pressure sensing glove that can be
used to estimate force between the hand (palm and fingers) and common
household objects. I am aware of a product for this purpose made by
Tekscan. Planning to use a number of small flexible thin force sensors
to ensure maximum contact with the object and minimal bending of the
sensors. Any input about materials, specifications, other vendors or
pricing would be very helpful. My email address is sraina@usc.edu
Thanks,
Best Regards
Shashank Raina
**
Shashank,
Talk to David Nuckley about this project before you start your own (see
attached abstract). This system looked very impressive in the
presentation at NACOB earlier this year. I think you'd be better off
adapting this system to your needs than creating your own. This device
is sensitive enough to accurately detect the pulse in your carotid, but
can still detect substantial forces with good linearity. It's also quite
inexpensive.
We've tried (and failed) to create glove-based sensors for patient
handling purposes using quantum tunneling composites as a sensor
substrate (tip- don't try to use this in your version). Because of this
I can give you some suggestions about sensors to try, but they all cost
a fortune (Novel Pliance glove sensor, Finger TPS from PPS, Tactilus
from Sensor Products, etc.). But again, and also because of the
difficulties personally experienced trying this ourselves, I urge you to
try working with David Nuckley (http://www.mbrl.umn.edu ) first.
Brian Schulz, Ph.D.
**
Try Novell, they have speciallized sensors for the hand.
Sue Ann Sisto, PT, MA, Ph.D.
***
Hi Raina
there is also a good product made by FSA in www.pressuremapping.com as
the sensors are calibrated.
Let me know if you need more info.
Best regards
****
Shashank,
We have been using the Tekscan "Flexiforce" sensors in an application
similar to what you are describing. There are limitations to the thin
profile resistive force sensors, but they also offer advantages over
other methods of trying to characterize contact force at the hand in
functional activities. We have attached 20 of these sensors to an
athletic grip glove (I recommend use of golf gloves because they are
thin, form fitting to the hand, and come in a wide range of sizes) on
the finger/thumb phalangeal segments, metacarpal heads, and
thenar/hypothenar aspects of the palm. We developed our own hardware
for excitation and amplification and our own DAQ software. From what I
have seen, the cost of these sensors is very low compared to other thin
profile pressure/force mapping technologies. I believe that having
individually replaceable sensors is critical, because these thin
substrate sensors will damage even with moderate use. My criticism of
higher cost commercial systems that consist of a single integrated
sensor (i.e. a sensor media that contains multiple sensing points that
are not individually replaceable) is that the sensor is unusable if any
portion of the sensing elements is damaged.
I could provide you with more information if you contact me directly.
There are also some other investigators I could direct you to who have
experience working with these types of sensors in similar applications.
Please note that everything expressed here is my own professional
opinion and does not reflect any product endorsement or policy of my
institute.
Brian Lowe
*****
Dear Shashank
Pl. check www.pressureprofile.com
I am sure, PPS products will be of your interest.
Contact : Dr. Jae Son
regards
Atul Motla
ELTEK SYSTEMS
******
Dear Shashank,
I saw you post today. We sell a solution that may be of interest to you. See:
http://www.nexgenergo.com/ergonomics/nexglove.html
http://www.nexgenergo.com/ergonomics/nexintel.html
The ISS-O: Intelligent Sensor Series in Octopus Format uses the same
sensors as the GPMS except that the # of sensors is less.
*******
Hi
You may be interested in the following papers that compared different
sensors used to measure grip force in golfers. I think one of the
sensors was made by Tekscan.
Komi, E. R., Roberts, J. R., & Rothberg, S. J. (2008). Measurement and
analysis of grip force during a golf shot. Proceedings of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports
Engineering and Technology, 222(1), 23-35.
Schmidt, E., Roberts, J., & Rothberg, S. (2006). Time-resolved
measurements of grip force during a golf shot. In E. F. Moritz & S.
Haake (Eds.), The Engineering of Sport 6 (Vol. 2, pp. 57-62). New
York: Springer.
Schmidt, E. R., Roberts, J. R., & Rothberg, S. J. (2005). Thin,
flexible sensors for grip force measurements in sport. In A. Subic &
S. Ujihashi (Eds.), The impact of technology on sport (pp. 399-405).
Melbourne: Australasian Technology Alliance.
Best regards,
Nils