Basic study of vibrotactile sensory feedback system for biomimetic powered-prosthetic hand

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a sensory feedback system for the biomimetic myoelectrically-controlled prosthetic hand. This system transmits an information about the force, which is applied to the fingers of the prosthetic hand, to its user with vibrotactile stimulus. When the larger force is applied to the fingers, the stronger vibrotactile stimulus is given to the user. The developed sensory feedback system consists of a signal processor and a vibrator made of a small-sized voice-coil speaker. Usefulness of this sensory feedback system was shown by the experiment, where a healthy subject was grasping soft objects with the prosthetic hand.