Regaining Sense of Touch: Artificial, Pressure-sensitive Skin for Hand Prosthetics

Abstract: A large portion of upper-limb prosthesis users are known to defer the use of electronic prostheses due to their high cost, considerable weight and lack of durability. Within this thesis, an approach to simple, low-cost pressure feedback systems is made. Using commercially available pressure sensors and rudimentary materials such as PDMS and polycarbonate plastic, a working prototype for pressure-sensitive skin was constructed and subsequently tested for several membrane thicknesses corresponding to the thicknesses of an artificial skin. While minor issues remain regarding stability and leakage, the system shows great potential for simple and sensitive pressure sensing units with fast response times. Aside from mechanosensory units, the possibility of custom-made proprioceptors for prosthetic skin was also explored in the form of gold or copper strain gauges. All communication with the sensors was performed using an Arduino Nano unit programmed with a custom script included within this report and the data was collected and displayed using a custom LabView program.