A Low-Cost Visual Grasp Aid for Neuropathy Patients Using Flexible 3D Printed Tactile Sensors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Omar Faruk Emon ◽  
Alex Russell ◽  
Gopal Nadkarni ◽  
Jae-Won Choi
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Device ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Robotic Hands ◽  
Object A ◽  
Wearable Electronic Device ◽  
Visual Aid ◽  
Real Time Visualization ◽  
3D Printed

Abstract Neuropathy is a nerve-damaging disease that causes those affected to lose feeling in their otherwise functional limbs. It can cause permanent numbing to the peripheral limb of a patient such as a hand or foot. In this report, we present a real-time visualization aid for grasp realization that can be used by patients experiencing numbness of the limb. This wearable electronic device was developed on an open-source microcontroller-based platform. This is a very simple and inexpensive solution. It is referred to as a NeuroGlove, and it provides patients with a visual light scale to allow them to understand the strength of the grasp they have on any object. A soft tactile sensor was additively manufactured by utilizing a multi-material direct-print system. The sensor consists of an ionic liquid-based pressure-sensitive membrane, stretchable electrodes, and insulation membranes. The printed flexible polymeric sensor was evaluated under varying forces. Next, the fabricated sensor was integrated with a microcontroller board where it was programmed to respond in a light scale according to the applied force on the sensor. Finally, the sensor-microcontroller system was installed on a glove to demonstrate a wearable visual aid for neuropathy patients. Additive manufacturing offers the ability for customization in a design, material, and geometry that could potentially lead to printing sensors on prosthetic or robotic hands.

scholarly journals A low-cost, human-like, high-resolution, tactile sensor based on optical fibers and an image sensor

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 172988141878363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Utku Büyükşahin ◽  
Ahmet Kırlı
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Fiber Optic ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Main Idea ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Image Sensor ◽  
Sensor Design ◽  
Tactile Sensors

Tactile sensors are commonly a coordinated group of receptors forming a matrix array meant to measure force or pressure similar to the human skin. Optic-based tactile sensors are flexible, sensitive, and fast; however, the human fingertip’s spatial resolution, which can be regarded as the desired spatial resolution, still could not be reached because of their bulky nature. This article proposes a novel and patented optic-based tactile sensor design, in which fiber optic cables are used to increase the number of sensory receptors per square centimeter. The proposed human-like high-resolution tactile sensor design is based on simple optics and image processing techniques, and it enables high spatial resolution and easy data acquisition at low cost. This design proposes using the change in the intesity of the light occured due to the deformation on contact/measurement surface. The main idea is using fiber optic cables as the afferents of the human physiology which can have 9 µm diameters for both delivering and receiving light beams. The variation of the light intensity enters sequent mathematical models as the input, then, the displacement, the force, and the pressure data are evaluated as the outputs. A prototype tactile sensor is manufactured with 1-mm spatial and 0.61-kPa pressure measurement resolution with 0–15.6 N/cm2 at 30 Hz sampling frequency. Experimental studies with different scenarios are conducted to demonstrate how this state-of-the-art design worked and to evaluate its performance. The overall accuracy of the first prototype, based on different scenarios, is calculated as 93%. This performance is regarded as promising for further developments and applications such as grasp control or haptics.

Multipurpose IoT network watchdog device with capability of add on sensors for multi instrument field stations.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Argyrakis ◽  
Theodore Chinis ◽  
Alexandra Moshou ◽  
Nikolaos Sagias
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Humidity Sensor ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Severe Damage ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Data Gaps ◽  
Real Time Visualization ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Excess Humidity

<p>Several stations (seismological, geodetical, etc.) suffer from communications problems, such problems create data gaps in real-time data transmission, also excess humidity and temperatures further than manufacturer limits, usually make components and circuitry, of expensive instruments, failure, and results to unaffordable service or unrepairable damage.</p><p>We create a low-cost opensource device that will raise the reliability of the stations and secure the instruments from severe damage, such a device installed as prototype at UOA (University of Athens) seismological station KARY (Karistos Greece) for a year and the reliability of the station raised tremendously, since then the device upgraded to provide wireless connection and IoT GUI (mobile app). A local server was built to serve all the devices uninterrupted and provide a secured network.</p><p>The software is fully customizable and multiple inputs can provide addon sensors capability, for example, gas sensor, humidity sensor, etc., all the data are collected to a remote database for real-time visualization and archiving for further analysis.</p><p>The shell which covers the circuitry is 3D-printed with a high temperature and humidity-resistant material and it’s also fully customizable by the user. </p>

scholarly journals Lignocellulosic Biomass-Derived Carbon Electrodes for Flexible Supercapacitors: An Overview

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 4571
Author(s):  
Wenxin Hu ◽  
Ruifang Xiang ◽  
Jiaxian Lin ◽  
Yu Cheng ◽  
Chunhong Lu
Keyword(s):  
Lignocellulosic Biomass ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Electrode Materials ◽  
Electronic Device ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Carbon Electrodes ◽  
Chemical Structures ◽  
Flexible Supercapacitors ◽  
Wearable Electronic Device

With the increasing demand for high-performance electronic devices in smart textiles, various types of flexible/wearable electronic device (i.e., supercapacitors, batteries, fuel cells, etc.) have emerged regularly. As one of the most promising wearable devices, flexible supercapacitors from a variety of electrode materials have been developed. In particular, carbon materials from lignocellulosic biomass precursor have the characteristics of low cost, natural abundance, high specific surface area, excellent electrochemical stability, etc. Moreover, their chemical structures usually contain a large number of heteroatomic groups, which greatly contribute to the capacitive performance of the corresponding flexible supercapacitors. This review summarizes the working mechanism, configuration of flexible electrodes, conversion of lignocellulosic biomass-derived carbon electrodes, and their corresponding electrochemical properties in flexible/wearable supercapacitors. Technology challenges and future research trends will also be provided.

scholarly journals Fully 3D Printed Flexible, Conformal and Multi-directional Tactile Sensor with Integrated Biomimetic and Auxetic Structure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuyang Wei ◽  
Bingqian Li ◽  
Marco Domingos ◽  
Yiming Zhu ◽  
Lingyun Yan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lumbar Vertebra ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Tactile Feedback ◽  
Robotic Hand ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Current Sensing ◽  
Sensing Range ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Auxetic Structure

Abstract Tactile sensors are instrumental for developing the next generation of biologically inspired robotic prostheses with tactile feedback. Despite significant advancements made in current sensing technology, several limitations still exist including the reduced sensing sensitivity under high pressure, lack of compliance of the planar sensor with working surfaces and the demand for sophisticated manufacturing processes. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of using the 3D printing technology for the rapid and simple fabrication of a new conformal tactile sensor with an improved linear sensing range. The auxetic structure is integrated with a biomimetic inter-locked papilla feature which allows to detect multi-directional stimuli. Using the proposed design, the linear sensing range is extended to 0.5MPa and responsive to normal and shear forces with the sensitivities of 2.42KPa^(-1)and 2.20N^(-1) respectively. The proposed tactile sensor was printed on the fingertip of a prosthetic robotic hand to perform the sensorimotor control, or on the proximal femur head and lumbar vertebra for monitoring the bone-on-bone load. The results have shown promising application prospects of the proposed tactile sensor.

scholarly journals A Soft Tactile Sensor Based on Magnetics and Hybrid Flexible-Rigid Electronics

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (15) ◽  
pp. 5098
Author(s):  
Miguel Neto ◽  
Pedro Ribeiro ◽  
Ricardo Nunes ◽  
Lorenzo Jamone ◽  
Alexandre Bernardino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Humanoid Robot ◽  
Spin Valve ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Contact Forces ◽  
Robotic Hand ◽  
Electronic Components ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Robotic Hands ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
Comsol Simulation

Tactile sensing is crucial for robots to manipulate objects successfully. However, integrating tactile sensors into robotic hands is still challenging, mainly due to the need to cover small multi-curved surfaces with several components that must be miniaturized. In this paper, we report the design of a novel magnetic-based tactile sensor to be integrated into the robotic hand of the humanoid robot Vizzy. We designed and fabricated a flexible 4 × 2 matrix of Si chips of magnetoresistive spin valve sensors that, coupled with a single small magnet, can measure contact forces from 0.1 to 5 N on multiple locations over the surface of a robotic fingertip; this design is innovative with respect to previous works in the literature, and it is made possible by careful engineering and miniaturization of the custom-made electronic components that we employ. In addition, we characterize the behavior of the sensor through a COMSOL simulation, which can be used to generate optimized designs for sensors with different geometries.

A High-Resolution, Ultrabroad-Range and Sensitive Capacitive Tactile Sensor based on CNTs/PDMS Composite for Robotic Hands

Nanoscale ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Fu ◽  
Jiqiang Zhang ◽  
Jianliang Xiao ◽  
Yuran Kang ◽  
Longteng Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Object Manipulation ◽  
Object Identification ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Robotic Hands ◽  
Robotic Perception ◽  
Critical Challenge

Tactile sensors are of great significance for robotic perception improvement to realize stable object manipulation and accurate object identification. To date, it remains a critical challenge to develop a broad-range...

scholarly journals Evaluation of Circle Diameter by Distributed Tactile Information in Active Tracing

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Nakamoto ◽  
Futoshi Kobayashi ◽  
Fumio Kojima
Keyword(s):  
Voluntary Movement ◽  
Synthesis Method ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Active Touch ◽  
Robotic Hand ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Robotic Hands ◽  
Tactile Information ◽  
Sensor Model ◽  
Circle Diameter

Active touch with voluntary movement on the surface of an object is important for human to obtain the local and detailed features on it. In addition, the active touch is considered to enhance the human spatial resolution. In order to improve dexterity performance of multifinger robotic hands, it is necessary to study an active touch method for robotic hands. In this paper, first, we define four requirements of a tactile sensor for active touch and design a distributed tactile sensor model, which can measure a distribution of compressive deformation. Second, we suggest a measurement process with the sensor model, a synthesis method of distributed deformations. In the experiments, a five-finger robotic hand with tactile sensors traces on the surface of cylindrical objects and evaluates the diameters. We confirm that the hand can obtain more information of the diameters by tracing the finger.

Tactile Behaviors with the Vision-Based Tactile Sensor FingerVision

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (03) ◽  
pp. 1940002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akihiko Yamaguchi ◽  
Christopher G. Atkeson
Keyword(s):  
Computer Vision ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Contact Force ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Elastic Skin ◽  
Slip Detection

This paper introduces a vision-based tactile sensor FingerVision, and explores its usefulness in tactile behaviors. FingerVision consists of a transparent elastic skin marked with dots, and a camera that is easy to fabricate, low cost, and physically robust. Unlike other vision-based tactile sensors, the complete transparency of the FingerVision skin provides multimodal sensation. The modalities sensed by FingerVision include distributions of force and slip, and object information such as distance, location, pose, size, shape, and texture. The slip detection is very sensitive since it is obtained by computer vision directly applied to the output from the FingerVision camera. It provides high-resolution slip detection, which does not depend on the contact force, i.e., it can sense slip of a lightweight object that generates negligible contact force. The tactile behaviors explored in this paper include manipulations that utilize this feature. For example, we demonstrate that grasp adaptation with FingerVision can grasp origami, and other deformable and fragile objects such as vegetables, fruits, and raw eggs.

scholarly journals A Sensitive Piezoresistive Tactile Sensor Combining Two Microstructures

Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuguang Sun ◽  
Jianhai Sun ◽  
Shuaikang Zheng ◽  
Chunkai Wang ◽  
Wenshuo Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Tactile Sensor ◽  
Tactile Sensors ◽  
Electronic Skin ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Monitoring Applications ◽  
Monitoring Application ◽  
Fast Dynamic

A tactile sensor is an indispensable component for electronic skin, mimicking the sensing function of organism skin. Various sensing materials and microstructures have been adopted in the fabrication of tactile sensors. Herein, we propose a highly sensitive flexible tactile sensor composed of nanocomposites with pyramid and irregularly rough microstructures and implement a comparison of piezoresistive properties of nanocomposites with varying weight proportions of multi-wall nanotubes and carbon black particles. In addition to the simple and low-cost fabrication method, the tactile sensor can reach high sensitivity of 3.2 kPa−1 in the range of <1 kPa and fast dynamic response of 217 ms (loading) and 81 ms (recovery) at 40 kPa pressure. Moreover, body movement monitoring applications have been carried out utilizing the flexible tactile sensor. A sound monitoring application further indicates the potential for applications in electronic skin, human–computer interaction, and physiological detection.

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