WeFiTS: Wearable fingertip tactile sensor

Abstract

Thimble/glove-based wearable systems are opportunistically placed on fingertips/hands and enable haptic devices, robotic/prosthetic hands to gather valuable information about physical interaction with the environment in an easy way. In particular, incipient slip detection and force acquisition are two important phenomena for human/robotic fingertips to successfully manipulate the real or virtual objects. In this study, a wearable fingertip tactile sensor (WeFiTS) capable of sensing incipient slippage and force variation in various directions to enhance interaction and manipulation while performing tasks is proposed. The fundamental design criteria of WeFiTS are also evaluated with FEA feasibility analysis and experimental evaluation.