A new touch-sensing glove feels pressure

Introduction

 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology  i.e. The MIT team of engineers has introduced a new concept that deals with a touch-sensing glove. It is designed in such a manner that it can be perceived by touch or connected with the sense of touch.

 

This can “feel” pressure and all other tangible mechanisms that act as stimuli to the receptors. The inside of the glove is lined with sensors that detect, measure and evaluate even the smallest changes during the process.

 

Assistance

 

According to the researchers, the tangible mechanism behind the same shall help to know about motor function which deals with the ability for movement and how the reduced motor function can occur as an aftereffect of cerebral cortex or motor pathway. 

 

It can also be adjusted according to the requirements of augmented virtual reality where he/she is given a collected form of data from external sources and this in turn intensifies their perception of reality.

 

 According to TechXplore, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, Nicholas Fang says:

 

“The simplicity and reliability of our sensing structure holds great promise for a diversity of health care applications, such as pulse detection and recovering the sensory capability in patients with tactile dysfunction.”

 

(Must Check: How is the Internet of Things (IoT) influencing the Human Body?)

 

The pressure sensors present inside the glove are almost similar to sensors that measure humidity with respect to its principle. Debunking the whole conventional approach, they introduced two thin, flat electrodes, which should be placed on the skin to generate a circuit with a specific capacitance instead of a sandwich structure. 

 

Through this process, they could level up the power of electrode’s sensitivity by wrapping up its foundation consisting of very small, conductive hairs. And when the pressure is applied, it will locate the degree, area and then, it can be measured and mapped accordingly.

 

The team also demonstrated the concept of ‘micropillars’ which would help them to accurately measure the degree and the height of extent to which these groups of micropillars are in continual act of response to various forces and pressures. 

 

The sensors are able to subtle phases in a person’s pulse and also at the same time, maintain its readings. Fang observes:

 

“Pulse is a mechanical vibration that can also cause deformation of the skin, which we can’t feel, but the pillars can pick up.” And then, they used this concept to the structural framework of tangible gloves which are highly sensitive to a sense of touch, as already mentioned. 

 

The results helped them to obtain detailed patterns of the given task. Fang envisions the potential to help patients and says:

 

“…This glove could provide us more accurate measurements of gripping force for control groups versus patients recovering from stroke or other neurological conditions…”