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Sensory Feedback in Prosthetic Arms

Ahad, Nibras Abir LU (2019) BMEM01 20192
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Abstract
The sense of touch in our body is something that many of us take for granted. It is after all hard to imagine how we would move and utilize our arms and legs without any sensory feedback.
For people who need to use hand prosthetics it is however very clear how they could improve their quality of life if they could “feel” with their hands once again. This could be realized using an artificial sense of touch, a sensory feedback system.
There are different ways to accomplish the above. A simple solution would be to pair force sensors on the hand prosthesis with a device which provides mechanical feedback to the user. Such an approach is investigated in this report.
The initial step was to build a prototype device which would allow for... (More)
The sense of touch in our body is something that many of us take for granted. It is after all hard to imagine how we would move and utilize our arms and legs without any sensory feedback.
For people who need to use hand prosthetics it is however very clear how they could improve their quality of life if they could “feel” with their hands once again. This could be realized using an artificial sense of touch, a sensory feedback system.
There are different ways to accomplish the above. A simple solution would be to pair force sensors on the hand prosthesis with a device which provides mechanical feedback to the user. Such an approach is investigated in this report.
The initial step was to build a prototype device which would allow for controlling a DC motor with force input from the user. This system was then used as a test bench to compare results from using two different sensor types, the FSR and SingleTact sensors.
With the main findings from this report it can be concluded that a feedback system using both sensor types can work. While the error was reduced to some extent using PI control, further work will be necessary until the system can be used in practice. (Less)
Popular Abstract
Sensory Feedback in Prosthetic Arms
Sensory Feedback in Prosthetic ArmsThe sense of touch in our body is something that many of us take for granted. It is after all hard to imagine how we would move and utilize our arms and legs without any sensory feedback. For amputees who need to use hand prosthetics, it is however very clear how they could improve their quality of life if they could “feel” with their hands once again. An artificial sense of touch could be realized by creating a mechano-tactile feedback system: a system which would work by sending physical force feedback to the user. This is something was created in this project, and would work by providing a specified amount of force using servo motors, based upon user input.
Is... (More)
Sensory Feedback in Prosthetic Arms
Sensory Feedback in Prosthetic ArmsThe sense of touch in our body is something that many of us take for granted. It is after all hard to imagine how we would move and utilize our arms and legs without any sensory feedback. For amputees who need to use hand prosthetics, it is however very clear how they could improve their quality of life if they could “feel” with their hands once again. An artificial sense of touch could be realized by creating a mechano-tactile feedback system: a system which would work by sending physical force feedback to the user. This is something was created in this project, and would work by providing a specified amount of force using servo motors, based upon user input.
Is there an obstacle to create the above? Yes and no. The solution to the above
A practical use-case for the above, is to mount the servo motors on a residual limb on the prosthetic arm user, for example this could be the upper arm. After touching objects with this device, the user would feel mechanical pressure on their upper arm from the motors.

Mechano-tactile feedback using servomotors

For the feedback system in this project two different types of sensors where used. The SingleTact capacitive force sensor as well as a FSR sensor (Interlink 402) were used. Both sensors where used separately and a test bench was used to compare the measurement results from both types. The servo motor used was a PQ23 Auctonix Linear Actuator, which work differently from the typical motor: it detracts and extends an arm into a specified position.
The measurements where done as follows: the user would input specified force into a graphical user interface created for this project. The motor would then push towards the target plate (a material built to emulate the human upper arm), until the specified
So how where the results? From the main findings it can be concluded that both sensor types can provide adequate measurements for use in a feedback system. It also showed that the use of PI control is needed to reduce error and variance. However, the overall performance of the system cannot be satisfactory for a final product, many possible solutions for further improvement are discussed in the report. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ahad, Nibras Abir LU
supervisor
organization
course
BMEM01 20192
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Prosthetic arms, Sensory Feedback, Arduino
language
English
additional info
2019-15
id
8998681
date added to LUP
2020-01-07 13:10:12
date last changed
2020-01-07 13:10:12
@misc{8998681,
  abstract     = {{The sense of touch in our body is something that many of us take for granted. It is after all hard to imagine how we would move and utilize our arms and legs without any sensory feedback. 
For people who need to use hand prosthetics it is however very clear how they could improve their quality of life if they could “feel” with their hands once again. This could be realized using an artificial sense of touch, a sensory feedback system.
There are different ways to accomplish the above. A simple solution would be to pair force sensors on the hand prosthesis with a device which provides mechanical feedback to the user. Such an approach is investigated in this report.
The initial step was to build a prototype device which would allow for controlling a DC motor with force input from the user. This system was then used as a test bench to compare results from using two different sensor types, the FSR and SingleTact sensors.
With the main findings from this report it can be concluded that a feedback system using both sensor types can work. While the error was reduced to some extent using PI control, further work will be necessary until the system can be used in practice.}},
  author       = {{Ahad, Nibras Abir}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Sensory Feedback in Prosthetic Arms}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}