Nanocomposite High Displacement Strain Gauges for use in Human-Machine Interfaces: Applications in Hand Pose Determination

摘要

Conductive nanocomposites are finding many uses as multi-functional materials. One recent development involves the creation of high displacement strain gauges, which have potential applications in a variety of engineering roles. The piezoresistive nature of the gauges makes possible their strain sensing capability. The intent of this research is to show that specific High Displacement Strain Gauges can successfully be used in one human-machine interface application that will demonstrate their potential for a range of other human-machine interface applications. This will be shown in the development of these sensors to accomplish hand pose determination. The flexible and inexpensive gauges are attached to several locations on a glove. It is then shown that by linking this glove with software, the position of the hand can be interpreted into the letters of the American Sign Language alphabet. This use of this nanocomposite sensor establishes the potential for future applications. Issues such as accuracy of response, cyclability, recalibration and reliability are discussed. A design of experiments is accomplished in order to evaluate the effects of modification of the gauges in order to overcome these issues. This work develops the potential of these sensors for use in human-machine interface applications such as computer games, remote controls, robotics, prosthetics and virtual reality applications.