Design of Multi-Purpose Instrumented Gloves: Pressure Measurements Validation

The use of hybrid technology for the development of flexible devices is becoming relevant for the development of low-cost and customizable sensing solutions. In particular, this technology fosters the development of effective wearable sensing systems, customizable on the basis of end-user needs, also addressing relevant application contexts such as health-related and rehabilitation tasks. In this paper the design of a multi-purpose instrumented glove is addressed. The objective of the developed solution is to provide information about hand state and movements which can be employed in several fields of application such as health care, rehabilitation, and robotics. The sensing part of the glove consists of a PET substrate equipped with InkJet-Printed Strain Gauges (IJP-SGs) for the monitoring of fingers movement and thin flexible Pressure Sensors (PS) for the monitoring of hand palm force distribution. Also, the solution is equipped by a data acquisition and processing unit. The main task accomplished through this work is related to the investigation of the behavior of a solution developed to measure the hand-palm load, including the estimation of main peculiar characteristics, such as the sensor responsivity, its resolution and the span-to-resolution index.