Calibration And Verification Of A Thin Flexible Film Hand Sensor

In this study, a thin flexible film hand sensor is designed for the purpose of reliably measuring the contact force between hand (palm and fingers) and tool handle. The hand sensor can measure the hand-handle interface pressure/force using the pressure-sensitive resistor ink distributed in the palm and finger regions. The prototype sensors are calibrated via applying two different known uniform pressures considering power law relationship. The static properties of the proposed hand sensor in terms of its drift, linearity, repeatability and hysteresis are subsequently evaluated by applying overall and local loads on a flat surface. The measured results revealed low hysteresis and good linearity and repeatability of the hand sensor. The hand sensor is further used to measure the static contact force between bare hand and an instrumental handle to verify the effectiveness of hand sensor on curved surface. Different combinations of grip and push forces are demonstrated by a recruited subject. The obtained relations between the hand forces and the measured contact force agree well with those in the reported studies.