Perceptual and comparative analyses of a passive, linear, multiple degree-of-freedom skin stretch device for proprioceptive substitution

This thesis presents a passive linear skin stretch device and shows that this device can provide multiple degree-of-freedom proprioceptive information about a myoelectric prosthetic hand during grasping. The device consists of three plastic contact pads that are adhered to the skin on the glabrous forearm and that are each attached by a wire to the metacarpophalangeal joint of one prosthetic finger. When a finger rotates about its metacarpophalangeal joint, the attached wire pulls the corresponding contact pad, which stretches the skin to an extent proportional to the angle of rotation. The results of two different studies show that this device can provide proprioceptive information. The first study applies perceptual analysis to show that the structure and dimensionality of the task of interpreting multiple degree-of-freedom proprioceptive information is the same as the structure and dimensionality of the perceptual space that is associated with our passive linear skin stretch device. The second study compares the ability of human subjects to perform a targeting task using our passive linear skin stretch device versus a standard vibrotactile array, and shows that although both devices result in significantly lower error (p < 0:05) than having no feedback there is no significant performance difference between them. We conclude that our passive linear skin stretch device is a viable alternative to a vibrotactile array.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Nguyen, HongAn Thuy

• haptics
• skin stretch
• perceptual space
• multidimensional scaling
• prosthesis
• sensory substitution
• proprioception
• grasping
• myoelectric

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2015 Mary Nguyen

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/78513

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/78513