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Numerical Investigation of Frictional Forces Between a Finger and a Textured Surface During Active Touch

2016

Miscellaneous

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The biomechanics of the human finger pad has been investigated in relation to motor behaviour and sensory function in the upper limb. While the frictional properties of the finger pad are important for grip and grasp function, recent attention has also been given to the roles played by friction when perceiving a surface via sliding contact. Indeed, the mechanics of sliding contact greatly affect stimuli felt by the finger scanning a surface. Past research has shed light on neural mechanisms of haptic texture perception, but the relation with time-resolved frictional contact interactions is unknown. Current biotribological models cannot predict time-resolved frictional forces felt by a finger as it slides on a rough surface. This constitutes a missing link in understanding the mechanical basis of texture perception. To ameliorate this, we developed a two-dimensional finite element numerical simulation of a human finger pad in sliding contact with a textured surface. Our model captures bulk mechanical properties, including hyperelasticity, dissipation, and tissue heterogeneity, and contact dynamics. To validate it, we utilized a database of measurements that we previously captured with a variety of human fingers and surfaces. By designing the simulations to match the measurements, we evaluated the ability of the FEM model to predict time-resolved sliding frictional forces. We varied surface texture wavelength, sliding speed, and normal forces in the experiments. An analysis of the results indicated that both time- and frequency-domain features of forces produced during finger-surface sliding interactions were reproduced, including many of the phenomena that we observed in analyses of real measurements, including quasiperiodicity, harmonic distortion and spectral decay in the frequency domain, and their dependence on kinetics and surface properties. The results shed light on frictional signatures of surface texture during active touch, and may inform understanding of the role played by friction in texture discrimination.

Author(s): Behnam Khojasteh and Marco Janko and Yon Visell
Year: 2016
Month: September

Department(s): Haptic Intelligence
Bibtex Type: Miscellaneous (misc)
Paper Type: Abstract

Address: London, England
How Published: Extended abstract presented in form of an oral presentation at the 3rd International Conference on BioTribology (ICoBT)
State: Published

BibTex

@misc{Khojasteh16-ICBTEA-Finger,
  title = {Numerical Investigation of Frictional Forces Between a Finger and a Textured Surface During Active Touch},
  author = {Khojasteh, Behnam and Janko, Marco and Visell, Yon},
  howpublished = {Extended abstract presented in form of an oral presentation at the 3rd International Conference on BioTribology (ICoBT)},
  address = {London, England},
  month = sep,
  year = {2016},
  doi = {},
  month_numeric = {9}
}