[D86] Skin-stretch proprioceptive feedback for a robotic gripper

Abstract

Although recent improvements in prosthetic Technologynology allow a user to control an upper limb prosthesis with some dexterity, a method for receiving proprioceptive feedback from the prosthetic limb has not yet been implemented in commercial hardware. The user must rely on visual feedback to know where his or her limb is in space. We will demonstrate a wearable prototype skin-stretch device that rotates the skin about the circumference of the upper arm to relay proprioceptive information. The device consists of a rubber pad moved by a friction drive that stretches the skin to the right or left by an amount proportional to the gripper aperture. In this demonstration, users will wear the device while controlling a prosthetic gripper and perceive gripper aperture through the resulting skin-stretch cues. We hypothesize that performance operating a prosthetic gripper without visual feedback will be improved.