A Knitted Sensing Glove for Human Hand Postures Pattern Recognition

In recent years, flexible sensors for data gloves have been developed that aim to achieve excellent wearability, but they are associated with difficulties due to the complicated manufacturing and embedding into the glove. This study proposes a knitted glove integrated with strain sensors for pattern recognition of hand postures. The proposed sensing glove is fabricated at all once by a knitting technique without sewing and bonding, which is composed of strain sensors knitted with conductive yarn and a glove body with non-conductive yarn. To verify the performance of the developed glove, electrical resistance variations were measured according to the flexed angle and speed. These data showed different values depending on the speed or angle of movements. We carried out experiments on hand postures pattern recognition for the practicability verification of the knitted sensing glove. For this purpose, 10 able-bodied subjects participated in the recognition experiments on 10 target hand postures. The average classification accuracy of 10 subjects reached 94.17% when their own data were used. The accuracy of up to 97.1% was achieved in the case of grasp posture among 10 target postures. When all mixed data from 10 subjects were utilized for pattern recognition, the average classification expressed by the confusion matrix arrived at 89.5%. Therefore, the comprehensive experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the knitted sensing gloves. In addition, it is expected to reduce the cost through a simple manufacturing process of the knitted sensing glove.

Age-group differences in beginning-state comfort reveal an increase in motor planning capabilities

Objects can be grasped in different ways to ensure a movement plan is aligned with the intended action. The current study assessed grasp posture in joint action object manipulation in children (ages 6–11, n = 68), young adults ( n = 21), and older adults ( n = 23). Participants performed two actions (pickup and pass; pickup and pass for use) within two movement contexts (using a dowel as if it were the actual object; actual object use), using two objects (glass and hammer) that differed in use-dependent experience. Beginning-state comfort (prioritizing a comfortable initial hand posture for an object recipient) was assessed. Taken together, findings support the notion that the ability to anticipate the intended action, and thus consider an action partner in one’s action plan, increases with age. With age and use-dependent experience, it can be argued that there is a shift from stimulus-driven, familiar responses, to considering affordances and task demands. Together, findings add to our understanding of changes in motor planning capabilities across the life span.