Device for detecting the tactile sensitivity of a user

Abstract

A device for detection of the tactile sensitivity of a user includes a base frame and a mechanical system joined to the base frame, the mechanical system being movable relative to the base frame and having a resting area for the fingertip of at least one finger of the user. The mechanical system includes a plurality of movable plate-shaped members arranged side by side to each other so that the resting area is defined by the thicknesses of at least part of the upper edges of the plate-shaped members. Each plate-shaped member is connected to an actuator, which can be operated to independently move each plate-shaped member from a minimum height position to a maximum height position, a control unit being further provided, which is adapted to operate the actuators.

Claims

1. A device for detection of tactile sensitivity of a user, comprising: a base frame (1); and a mechanical system (2) joined to said base frame (1), said mechanical system (2) being movable relatively to said base frame (1), said mechanical system (2) having a resting area (3) for a fingertip of at least one finger of said user, wherein said mechanical system (2) comprises a plurality of movable plate-shaped members (21) arranged side by side to each other so that said resting area (3) is defined by thicknesses of at least some upper edges (211) of the plate-shaped members (21), and wherein each plate-shaped member (21) is connected to a respective actuator (23) adapted to be operated to independently move each plate-shaped member (21) from a minimum height position to a maximum height position; a control unit being further provided which is adapted to operate said actuators (23).

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein each plate-shaped member (21) is connected to the respective actuator (23) through a lever (22), said lever (22) is-being attached to a first end (212) of said plate-shaped member (21), said plate-shaped member (21) being hinged at a second end (213) so that a transition from the minimum height position to the maximum height position occurs when said plate-shaped member (21) is rotated about said second end (213).

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein each plate-shaped member (21) has a projecting edge (214) projecting from said upper edge (211) at said resting area (3) towards the fingertip of said user in such a way that the resting area (3) is defined by a set of projecting edges (214) of each plate-shaped member (21).

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein said mechanical system includes a slider (24) configured to slide said mechanical system (2) with respect to said base frame (1), a drive unit being present for said slider (24).

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of plate-shaped members (21) comprise plate-shaped members (21) made of two different metal materials in such a way that the plate-shaped members (21) made of a first metal material are alternately arranged with respect to the plate-shaped members (21) made of a second metal material.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein said actuators (23) are divided in two groups, each group being arranged on opposite sides with respect to said plurality of plate-shaped members (21).

7. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a detection system configured to detect a pressure applied by the fingertip of the user, said detection system comprising a pressure sensor (4) positioned on a portion of an upper edge (214) of each plate-shaped member (21) forming said resting area (3), and an acquisition unit connected to each pressure sensor (4).

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein said pressure sensor (4) is a piezoresistive sensor (4).

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein said control unit is a remote unit (61), which controls a microcontroller (62) connected to said actuators (23), said remote unit (61) generating control signals adapted to set a height of each plate-shaped member (21), said microcontroller (62) comprising means for detecting the height of each plate-shaped member (21).

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein said microcontroller (62) comprises one or more control units, each control unit controlling a status of a group of the actuators (23), said control signals being sine waves.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIGS. 1a and 1b illustrate two views of the device of the present invention according to a possible embodiment;

(2) FIGS. 2a and 2b illustrate the mechanical system of the device of the present invention;

(3) FIGS. 3a, 3b and 4 illustrate certain details of the mechanical system of the device of the present invention;

(4) FIG. 5 illustrates a concept diagram of the pressure sensor of the device of the present invention;

(5) FIG. 6 illustrates a functional diagram of the operation of the device of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) It will be appreciated that the figures accompanying the present patent application are included in order to better understand the advantages and features of the device of the present invention.

(7) Thus, these embodiments are intended to be merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventive concept of the present invention, which is to provide a device for detection of the tactile sensitivity of a user which allows measurements and evaluations to be carried out with a high degree of accuracy while keeping the components of the device simple in design.

(8) FIGS. 1a and 1b illustrate a first embodiment of the device of the present invention, respectively in a version with an external covering case 10 and without the external case.

(9) According to the embodiment illustrated in the Figures, the device for detection of the tactile sensitivity of a user comprises a base frame 1 and a mechanical system 2 attached to the base frame 1.

(10) As can be seen particularly in FIG. 1b, the mechanical system 2 can be moved relatively to the base frame 1, and it comprises a resting area 3 for at least one fingertip of a user.

(11) In use, the user rests the palm of his/her hand on a platform 101 in such a way that one of his/her fingertips, preferably the fingertip of his/her index finger, is in contact with the resting area 3.

(12) The mechanical system 2 comprises a plurality of movable plate-shaped members 21 arranged side by side to each other in such a way that the resting area 3 is defined by the thicknesses of at least part of the upper edges of the plate-shaped members 21.

(13) As is clear from FIGS. 2a and 2b, the mechanical system 2 consists of a plurality of modular assemblies attached to each other, two embodiments of such assemblies being illustrated in FIGS. 3a and 3b.

(14) Each modular assembly consists of a plate-shaped member 21, a lever 22 and an actuator 23.

(15) It is clear that, when each actuator 23 is operated, the respective plate-shaped member 21 is independently moved through the lever 22 from a minimum height position to a maximum height position.

(16) As will be seen hereinbelow, since each plate-shaped member 21 can be moved independently, the plate-shaped members 21 can be positioned at different heights so as to generate specific stimuli on the surface of the fingertip of the user.

(17) Indeed, the envelope along the line joining the upper edges 211 of the plate-shaped members 21 defines a precise form which is changed according to the stimulus to be obtained.

(18) There is provided a control unit—described in detail hereinbelow—which is adapted to generate control signals for the operation of the actuators 23 in order to create tactile stimuli on the fingertip of the user.

(19) With particular reference to FIGS. 3a and 3b, the plate-shaped member 21 is connected to the corresponding actuator 23 through the lever 22 at an end 212 of the plate-shaped member 21.

(20) According to the illustrated embodiment, the end 212 has an appropriate eyelet which receives the end pin of the lever 22.

(21) In addition, the plate-shaped member 21 is hinged at an end 213 in such a way that the transition from the minimum height position to the maximum height position occurs when the plate-shaped member 21 is rotated about the end 213.

(22) According to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3a and 3b, the end 213 has an eyelet for receiving a pin 11 supported by a pillar 12, both integral with the base frame 1, in such a way as to ensure the rotation thereof about the pin 11 received within the eyelet when the plate-shaped members are moved.

(23) The levers 22 can be attached to the actuators 23 through an attachment means of the actuator 23 which engages a slot 221 to adjust the arm of the lever 22 in length.

(24) Further with particular reference to FIGS. 3a and 3b, each plate-shaped member 21 has an edge 214 projecting from the upper edge 211 at the resting area 3 towards the fingertip of the user.

(25) As illustrated, the upper portion of the plate-shaped member 21 extending towards the fingertip provides an appendix 215 having a projecting edge 214 in such a way that the resting area 3 is defined by the set of projecting edges 214 of each plate-shaped member 21.

(26) According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3a, the plate-shaped member 21 is moved in the same direction as the actuator 23, meaning that, when the actuator is operated to be moved upward, the end 212 is also moved upward.

(27) In contrast, FIG. 3b illustrates a preferred and particularly advantageous embodiment: the lever 22 has at least one hole for receiving a pivot member 15 supported by two support members 14.

(28) The support members 14 and the pivot member 15 are integral with the base frame 1 in such a way that, when the actuator 23 is operated to be moved upward, the end 212 of the plate-shaped member 21 is moved downward in the opposite direction.

(29) With particular reference to the variant embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2a, there are provided 28 plate-shaped members 21, each being 1 millimeter in thickness so that the resting area 3 is 28 millimeters in length.

(30) In addition, the plate-shaped members include plate-shaped members made of steel and plate-shaped members made of brass which are arranged alternately with each other in order to reduce friction when they are moved.

(31) Particularly, FIGS. 2a and 2b illustrate the unique arrangement for actuators 23, levers 22 and plate-shaped members 21.

(32) In order to minimize size and footprint and simultaneously provide each plate-shaped member 21 with an identical lever linkage arrangement, the actuators 23 are divided in two groups arranged at opposite sides with respect to the plurality of plate-shaped members 21.

(33) Furthermore, the actuators 23 in each group are arranged on two planes at different heights in such a way that the levers 22 of the actuators 23 lying on the upper plane are connected from above to each plate-shaped member 21 while the levers 22 of the actuators 23 lying on the lower plane are connected from below to each plate-shaped member 21.

(34) At the same time, the plate-shaped members 21 are arranged alternately with each other, i.e. the plate-shaped members in odd positions are driven by the group of actuators 23 on either the right side or the left side with reference to FIG. 2a while the plate-shaped members in even positions are driven by the other group of actuators 23.

(35) In this way, if the proximal pin 11 in FIG. 2a engages the eyelets of the plate-shaped members 21 in even positions, then the distal pin 11 in FIG. 2a engages the eyelets of the plate-shaped members 21 in odd positions, or vice versa.

(36) Such a configuration is further elucidated in FIG. 2b, which illustrates a top view of the mechanical system 2 with the plate-shaped members 21 being omitted.

(37) From FIG. 2b, it is possible to appreciate the particular arrangement of the actuators 23 in order to minimize the footprint thereof to the maximum extent feasible.

(38) As already anticipated in FIG. 2a, the levers 22 are arranged on an upper plane and a lower plane and, consequently, in case 28 levers are used, there are provided 14 pairs of levers with a common vertical plane.

(39) With particular reference to FIGS. 1b and 4, the mechanical system 2 comprises a slider 24 adapted to slide the mechanical system 2 with respect to the base frame 1.

(40) Thus, the mechanical system 2 has two types of movement: a vertical movement of each plate-shaped member 21, particularly along axis B, and a longitudinal movement of the entire mechanical system 2 relatively to the base frame 1 as indicated by axis A.

(41) The slider system is driven by a corresponding drive unit which is not illustrated in the figures.

(42) For example, the slider system can consist of a guide 241 integral with the base frame 1 and a slide 242 integral with the mechanical system.

(43) With particular reference to FIG. 4, there are provided two guides 241 and two slides 242: the stroke of the slides along the guides is about 500 millimeters in length.

(44) Preferably, only one slide 242 is driven by a drive unit, while the other slide can be connected to the active slide through a rigid arm.

(45) With reference to FIGS. 1a to 4, it will be appreciated that the fingertip of the user in contact with the resting area 3 remains in contact with the set of plate-shaped members 21 even when the mechanical system 2 is moved along axis A.

(46) According to a preferred embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 5, the device of the present invention provides a system for detecting the pressure applied by the fingertip of the user.

(47) The detection system comprises a pressure sensor, particularly a piezoresistive sensor 4, which is positioned on the projecting edge 214 of each plate-shaped member 21, and an acquisition unit—not illustrated in the figure—which is connected to each piezoresistive sensor 4.

(48) As illustrated in FIG. 5, the piezoresistive sensors 4 are arranged in such a way to almost completely cover the resting area 3 in order to appropriately read the pressure distribution on the surface of the fingertip in contact with the resting area 3.

(49) According to a possible embodiment, the sensor 4 comprises a layer of a rigid material which is attached to the projecting edge 214 of each plate-shaped member 21, the rigid layer having a plurality of electrodes deposited thereon, and a layer of a nanocomposite material with piezoresistive features.

(50) Specifically, the nanocomposite material comprises an insulating polymeric matrix containing a plurality of electrically conductive elements as a dispersion.

(51) Preferably, the rigid layer may consist of a layer of monocrystalline silicon or a layer of Kapton.

(52) The use of Kapton makes easy to connect the sensor 4 with any acquisition unit.

(53) For example, the layer of nanocomposite material may consist of an epoxy resin or acrylic resin which contains a dispersion of conductive elements with sharp corners, such as nano-tubes of carbon or nano-particles of gold, copper, silver, nickel, preferably wherein each particle is provided with nano-tips, such particles being known as a “spiky nano-particles”.

(54) As is known, this configuration is such that a pressure applied by the fingertip to the sensors 4 changes the distribution of the insulating spaces interposed among the conductive elements, thereby changing the specific electrical resistance and capacitance of the sensor 4 by either the tunnelling effect or a direct contact among the conductive elements, a phenomenon known as percolation.

(55) Such resistivity changes can be recorded by the acquisition unit in order to convert them into pressure values.

(56) In order to maximize the accuracy of the parameters detected by the sensor, the acquisition unit may comprise a resonant circuit which can be connected to the sensor 4 by means of metal foils. In fact, as a pressure applied to the nano-composite changes not only the resistive component but also the reactive component (the sum of which components represents the complex impedance), whether it is capacitive or inductive in nature, the frequency of a resonant circuit changes in a manner which can be directly correlated to the pressure change as described in document “A Robust Capacitive Digital Read-Out Circuit for a Scalable Tactile Skin”, A. Damilano, P. Motto Ros, A. Sanginario, A. Chiolerio, S. Bocchini, I. Roppolo, C. F. Pirri, S. Carrara, D. Demarchi, M. Crepaldi, IEEE Sensors Journal 2017 (in press) DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2017.2681065, the contents of which should be considered as an integral part of the present specification.

(57) According to this embodiment, for each sensor 4, the upper surface of the layer of monocrystalline silicon may not be completely covered by the nano-composite material: therefore, the metal foils can be arranged on the “bare” portion of silicon and then welded or connected to wires by means of conductive resins for the connection with the acquisition unit.

(58) As anticipated, the independent movement of the plate-shaped members 21 is controlled by a control unit which is connected to the electronics—not illustrated in the figures—of the actuators 23.

(59) The control unit generates control signals adapted to set the height of each individual plate-shaped member 21 in order to generate stimuli on the surface of the fingertip of the user in contact with the resting area 3.

(60) Advantageously, the control unit consists of a remote unit which controls a microcontroller connected to the actuators 23 and which comprises means for detecting the height of each plate-shaped member 21.

(61) Preferably, the microcontroller comprises one or more control units which can check the status of a group of actuators.

(62) According to this configuration, the microcontroller is responsible for the activities performed in real-time mode, while the remote unit is responsible for the activities performed in non-real-time mode.

(63) By way of an example, in an embodiment, the microcontroller may be a 12V-powered BeagleBone Black-type board.

(64) The board may incorporate a DAQ NI-type data acquisition system and a hardware device for the connection and control of the actuators 23.

(65) The board may comprise a logic program designed to handle the state of each actuator 23, particularly the number of steps, the direction of operation and the operation thereof.

(66) According to an exemplary embodiment, the control unit of the microprocessor is interfaced with the data acquisition system. The microcontroller handling logic program is designed to move the actuators 23 in a consecutive manner and to assign the direction of movement and the number of steps to be performed to each actuator.

(67) According to a further embodiment, the control units of the microprocessor comprise 8-bit flip-flop-type electronic circuits.

(68) Since each flip-flop can handle four different actuators 23, if there are 28 actuators, then 7 flip-flops are required.

(69) The microcontroller handling logic program is designed to set the status of the actuators 23 handled by the first flip-flop and then alternately operate each flip-flop by turning on the first flip-flop, then turning off the first flip-flop and turning on the second flip-flop, etc., in order to transfer all information related to the states of each actuator 23.

(70) At this point, the control signal can be generated, preferably by the remote unit through a control signal generating algorithm, in order to set the heights of each actuator 23.

(71) It is evident that the configuration described just above allows the actuators 23 to be synchronously and readily moved by sending a single control signal, without having to control each plate-shaped member 21 separately.

(72) In fact, the plate-shaped members 21 are mechanically synchronized by using a single control signal.

(73) According to a possible embodiment, the remote unit may be connected to both the microcontroller and the drive unit for the slider 24 so as to handle simultaneously both the stimuli to be presented to the fingertip and the proprioceptive system of the user.

(74) Preferably, the control signal sets the various heights of the plate-shaped members 21 so as to generate a sine wave-shaped profile along the longitudinal axis of the device of the present invention.

(75) As anticipated, the sine wave can be changed in temporal frequency, spatial frequency and amplitude according to the stimulus to be generated.

(76) Having described the characteristics of the device of the present invention, FIG. 6 illustrates a concept diagram showing a possible use of the device.

(77) The user contacts the resting area 3 with the fingertip of his/her right index finger.

(78) Then, the user is acoustically and visually isolated by means of a set of headphones and a blackout eye mask.

(79) Each trial 60 consists of two different stimuli to which the user is subjected.

(80) The remote unit 61 sends a control signal to the microcontroller 62 in order to generate the first stimulus.

(81) The microcontroller 62 sets the mechanical system 2 according to the above-described methodology, thereby operating the actuators and levers and setting the heights of the plate-shaped members so as to match the profile of the selected form and send the stimulus to the fingertip in contact with the plate-shaped members (in the presence or absence of the pressure sensor 4).

(82) Then, the remote unit 61 sends a further control signal in order to generate the second stimulus.

(83) Once the trial 60 is completed, the user 63 indicates which stimulus was perceived with the greatest spatial frequency to the operator 64, and the operator 64 creates a document with all the responses of the various users for any necessary evaluations.

(84) Finally, each trial 60 can include an interaction with the slider 24 in order to activate the proprioceptive system of the user 63.