Measurement of fingerpad deformation and force adjustment when performing vertical oscillations with hand-held objects

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Supervisors: Lefèvre, Philippe ; Delhaye, Benoit ; Schiltz, Félicien
Faculty: Ecole polytechnique de Louvain
Degree label: Master [120] : ingénieur civil biomédical
Abstract: Object manipulations are part of the human daily life. They require the integration of various information by the central nervous system to enable the continuous adaptation of the force generated by the muscles to the desired task. One part of this required information is given by the tactile system with its mechanoreceptors innervating the fingertips. These receptors perceive the mechanical deformations appearing at the contact between the fingertips and the object and transmit this information to the central nervous system. Analysing these mechanical deformations can therefore be useful to understand how the continuous adaptation of the force takes place. An experimentation, during which the contact area between the index fingertip of the subject and the object was imaged and the involved forces were recorded, was therefore performed: 12 subjects realised vertical oscillations with a fully counterbalanced object held in precision grip. The influence of the frictional conditions and the moisture skin level were also analysed.