1 Tactile Sensors for Measuring Effects of Sight , 2 Movement , and Sound on Handgrip Forces during 3 Hand-Tool Interaction 4

Using tactile sensing to measure grip force variations during hand-tool interaction 10 reveals effects of sensory feed-back signals on individual handgrip forces in surgical simulator 11 training. A biosensor system was designed for recording grip-force signals from different loci of 12 measurement in the palm, the fingers, and the fingertips of the dominant and non-dominant hands 13 of eleven novice surgeons. To test for effects of sound, movement, and sight on grip force signals, 14 subjects had to pick up two tools, then hold them still or move them upwards and downwards for 15 ten seconds while listening to soft or hard musical tones, with their eyes open and blindfolded. We 16 found significant effects of movement, sight, and sound on average maximum peak forces. 17 Stronger grip force signals were recorded from the dominant hand moving the tools. In specific 18 sensor loci in the fingertips, significantly stronger grip forces were recorded in the absence of visual 19 input (blindfolded condition). Grip forces recorded from the palm of the hands were significantly 20 stronger with exposure to hard musical tones. It is concluded that handgrip force is significantly 21 influenced by sensory signals from the auditory and visual sensory modalities. Such interactions 22 could be effectively exploited for guiding simulator training. 23