ASSESSING THE DEXTERITY OF HUMAN HAND IN SOME DAILY MOVEMENTS THROUGH AN ACUPRESSURE AND CURVATURE DATA GLOVE

Abstract

The human hand is a highly-precisely designed organ that helps us complete the most complex and delicate movements in our daily life. However, in the real world, people may lose part of their hand function. The rehabilitation of the patient’s hand becomes extremely important. In this study we developed a wearable hand motion sensing system that combines curvature sensors and pressure sensors to assess the degrees of bending of fingers when people perform different hand motions and finger pressure. In this study, we first collected the data of curvature and pressure of people\u27s fingers in various daily actions through the glove. We then investigated differences between finger curvature and pressure when people performed the same movements. Finally, we analyzed the similarities or differences in how people perform different activities of daily living. Experimental results show that people adjust how they use their fingers (curvature) and how they apply force (acupressure) depending on the size, material, and weight of the item. When people perform fine actions, certain fingers play an important role in both actuating force and auxiliary support. On the contrary, when the action requires relatively more force, some fingers play the role of action output and the others play the role of auxiliary support