Sensing of Finger Joint Angles Using Chip Coils and Its Application to the Tele-Operating of Artificial Fingers With Multiple Joints

Abstract

A ‘coil sensor glove’ has been proposed as a human interface device in order to operate artificial fingers of a robot hand by human fingers. Five angle sensors were attached to the glove to detect joint angles of human fingers. As an angle sensor, a pair of chip coils which were fixed on rubber was used to obtain the angle electromagnetically. The angle was found to be exactly detected without hystereses and time delay. Artificial fingers and its operation system have been developed for a tele-existence robot. The artificial fingers modeled after an index finger and a thumb were designed so that the mechanism and the structure are similar to those of human fingers. The coil sensor glove was proven available to control the movement of the artificial fingers almost in real time.