軟体型圧力センサで駆動する電動義手の操作性のSTEFによる評価

抄録

Our objective is to develop soft pressure sensors to control the electric arm prosthesis by measuring the movement of muscles for the control signals instead of EMG. In our previous research, we developed a gripping force teaching mechanism that tells the user the feeling of gripping force by a soft pressure sensor attached to the fingertip. As a result, we could pick up silken tofu with electric arm. It means that, we have developed a function which is difficult with an electric arm prosthesis using a myoelectric sensor. We, however, have not investigated how much operability is improved than EMG. Therefore, in this research, we evaluated the operability of the electric arm prosthetic hand driven by our soft pressure sensors. We used a test called STEF for evaluation. STEF is used in evaluating the rehabilitation status of the upper limbs. As a result, it showed better operability than the electric arm prosthesis using EMG.