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. 2023 Mar 23;14(4):710.
doi: 10.3390/mi14040710.

Design of Wearable Finger Sensors for Rehabilitation Applications

Beyza Bozali  1 , Sepideh Ghodrat  1 , Kaspar M B Jansen  1
Affiliations

Design of Wearable Finger Sensors for Rehabilitation Applications

Beyza Bozali et al. Micromachines (Basel). .

Abstract

As an emerging technology, smart textiles have attracted attention for rehabilitation purposes or to monitor heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, body posture, as well as limb movements. Traditional rigid sensors do not always provide the desired level of comfort, flexibility, and adaptability. To improve this, recent research focuses on the development of textile-based sensors. In this study, knitted strain sensors that are linear up to 40% strain with a sensitivity of 1.19 and a low hysteresis characteristic were integrated into different versions of wearable finger sensors for rehabilitation purposes. The results showed that the different finger sensor versions have accurate responses to different angles of the index finger at relaxation, 45° and 90°. Additionally, the effect of spacer layer thickness between the finger and sensor was investigated.

Keywords: knitted strain sensor; rehabilitation applications; smart textiles; wearable textiles.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) The developed knitted strain sensor, (b) optical images of the sensing region which shows the conductive yarns (gold) positioned inside and elastic yarns outside (white), and (c) illustration of the conductive and elastic yarn positioning within the sensing region.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Different versions of wearable finger sensors: (a) Version 1 and (b) Version 2.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The developed knitted strain sensor graphs under four cyclic tests, (a) Relative resistance change versus strain, (b) Relative resistance change versus strain for 70 repetitive cycles, and (c) Resistance changes versus time at a strain 40% strain under 4 cycles.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The cyclic hold test of knitted strain sensor: (a) Resistance versus time graph when the hold time was set as 10 s, and (b) Relaxation during the holding phase.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The relative resistance change versus time for Version 1 and Version 2 at various positions: relaxation, 45° and 90°. (a) The positions of version 1 sensors at different angles, (b) relative resistance changes versus time of version 1 sensor, (c) the positions of the Version 2 sensor at different angles, and (d) relative resistance changes versus time of the Version 2 sensor.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The performance of the Version 1 sensor in four different trials with repeated finger movements 0–45–90 degrees: (a) 1.test, (b) 2.test, (c) 3.test and (d) 4.test.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) The schematic of the index finger during bending at 45 degree and (b) representation of the finger as two beams with a cylindrical joint.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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