JP7637375B2 - Tactile sensing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a tactile sensing device that can detect the tactile sensation caused by a human finger.

Conventionally, devices that detect the sensation when a human finger touches an object have been proposed, such as those described in the following patent documents:

For example, the following patent document proposes a device that is worn to pinch the tip of a human finger from both sides, and includes a base 81 with a downward U-shaped opening as shown in FIG. 6, a first detection piece 82 and a second detection piece 83 that extend downward from the opening of the base 81 and elastically deform when a human finger is pinched on both sides, and a strain sensor 84 attached to each of the first detection piece 82 and the second detection piece 83.

When such a device is used to detect the tactile sensation of a human finger, the increase in the left-right width of the finger that occurs when the finger touches an object is detected as the amount of strain caused by the elastic deformation of the first detection piece 82 and the second detection piece 83, and this is converted into a load value so that it can be detected as the tactile sensation when the object is touched.

JP 2011-232165 A JP 2011-133395 A

However, such devices have the following problems:

In other words, in the device shown in the above patent document, the first detection piece 82 and the second detection piece 83, which are made of elastic material, extend into an opening that opens in a downward U-shape. However, since finger thickness varies from person to person, if a thick finger is placed in the opening, the first detection piece 82 and the second detection piece 83 will spread widely to the left and right, causing plastic deformation. For this reason, it is necessary to prepare multiple devices with opening widths that correspond to the thickness of people's fingers in advance, which creates the problem of high costs.

In addition, in the device described in the above patent document, a distortion center 84 is attached to each of the first detection piece 82 and the second detection piece 83. However, if distortion sensors 84 are attached to the first detection piece 82 and the second detection piece 83 on both the left and right sides, not only would the number of manufacturing steps increase, but costs would also be high.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a tactile detection device that can accommodate fingers of various thicknesses and can reduce costs.

In other words, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the finger tactile detection device of the present invention is equipped with a base which is attached to the upper tip of a human finger and has a U-shaped opening , first and second detection pieces which are configured in an L-shape and rotate around a rotating part provided inside the opening and which clamp the human finger on the lower side of the rotating part, and a rotating piece which is provided horizontally from the rotating part, and a sensor which detects the amount of change in the gap width of the rotating pieces based on the expansion of the clamping pieces of the first detection piece and the second detection piece when an object is pressed against it with a human finger, by using a strain sensor attached to an elastic plate provided in the gap between the rotating pieces of the first detection piece and the second detection piece .

With this configuration, the first and second detection pieces are rotated to detect the amount of change, so even if the piece is worn on a thick finger, the first and second detection pieces do not undergo plastic deformation, and the tactile sensation of the finger can be detected.

In the invention, a spacer for adjusting the gap between the first detection piece and the second detection piece may be removably attached to the first detection piece and/or the second detection piece.

With this configuration, even if the device is worn on a thin finger, it will be possible to detect tactile sensations simply by attaching the spacer.

According to the present invention , even when the sensor is worn on a thick finger, the first detection piece and the second detection piece are not plastically deformed, and the sensor can detect the tactile sensation of the finger.

1 is a schematic diagram of a tactile sensation detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 13 shows the tactile sensation detection device in the same embodiment with the fingers spread apart. FIG. 13 shows the state in which the spacer is attached in the same embodiment. FIG. 13 shows the state in which the spacer is attached in the same embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a tactile sensation detection device according to another embodiment; A diagram showing a conventional example

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 1, the tactile sensing device 1 in this embodiment is worn on the fingertips of a human hand and is configured with a base 2 that is worn over the finger, an L-shaped first sensing piece 3 and a second sensing piece 4 that rotate around a rotating part 22 provided on both the left and right sides of the base 2, an elastic plate 5 that is provided to bridge between the first sensing piece 3 and the second sensing piece 4, and a sensor 6 that detects deformation due to distortion of the elastic plate 5. With this configuration, the sensor 6 detects the increase in the left and right width of the finger that occurs when the human finger touches an object, and this can be output as the load of the finger. The finger tactile sensing device 1 in this embodiment will be described in detail below.

First, the base 2 is designed to be worn on a human finger, and is provided with a U-shaped opening 20. A groove 21 is formed inside this opening 20 for attaching the L-shaped first detection piece 3 and second detection piece 4 described below, and a pin 22p and hole 22a are provided in the opposing grooves 21 of the part that is split in half to have a front and a back surface, for rotatably attaching the first detection piece 3 and second detection piece 4.

On the other hand, the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 attached to the base 2 are attached symmetrically and are made of a hard material having an approximately L-shape. The hard material is made of, for example, ceramic, hard resin, metal, etc., and is made of a material that does not bend when worn on a finger. The first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4, the clamping pieces 31 and 41 provided below the rotating part 22, are provided with abutment parts 31a and 41a for abutting the side of the finger, and these abutment parts 31a and 41a are exposed to the inside from the opening 20 of the base 2 so that the finger can be pinched. In addition, the abutment parts 31a and 41a are provided with holes 32 and 42 that allow the left and right width when the finger is pinched to be adjusted, and spacers 7 of various sizes can be attached to the holes 32. When attaching the spacer 7, as shown in FIG. 5, the protrusion 71 on the spacer 7 is fitted into the hole 32 so that it can be detachably attached. In the initial state where the spacer 7 is not attached, the gap between the left and right contact parts 31a, 41a is made slightly wider than the average finger thickness (gap width w) so that a thick finger can be pinched in place.

On the other hand, the rotating pieces 34, 44 that are provided horizontally from the rotating part 22 of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 are designed to be able to swing up and down by pinching a finger between the abutting parts 31a, 41a, and are provided with a predetermined gap at the tip of the opposing rotating pieces 34, 44. At this time, in the initial state where no finger is pinched, the upper surface of the tip side of the rotating pieces 34, 44 is inclined upward, and the elastic plate 5 is attached in a curved state to the upper surface of the rotating pieces 34, 44.

The pins 22p constituting the rotation part 22 that rotatably supports the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 are provided between the holes 33, 43 provided near the corners of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 and the hole 22a provided in the base 2, so that the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 can be rotated with the center of rotation fixed.

In addition, in Figs. 1 to 3, the center of rotation is fixed by the pin 22p that constitutes the hinge, but as shown in Fig. 4, the outer corner portion and inner corner portion of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 that are bent in an L shape may be abutted against the corner portion 24 of the groove 21 of the base 2, and the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 may be rotated around this corner portion 24.

A thin elastic plate 5 is attached to the gap between the rotating pieces 34, 44 of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 attached to the base 2 in this way. This elastic plate 5 is attached to the upper surface of the inclined rotating pieces 34, 44 so as to ensure a large amount of deflection due to the rotation of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4, and is attached so as to curve in an arc from the inclined rotating pieces 34, 44. This increases the rotation radius from the rotation center of the rotating part 22 to the elastic plate 5, and ensures a large amount of deflection of the elastic plate 5 when the rotating pieces 34, 44 are rotated.

The elastic plate 5 thus attached is provided with a sensor 6 for detecting the amount of bending of the elastic plate 5. Any sensor 6 can be used as long as it can detect the amount of bending, but in this embodiment, a strain gauge (strain sensor) is used as a sensor that is large enough to fit within the left-right width of a fingertip and can detect the amount of deformation of the elastic plate 5. The sensor 6 made of this strain gauge is capable of detecting changes in voltage based on the bending of the elastic plate 5, changing the resistance value based on the strain, which can be detected as a change in voltage by a bridge circuit. The sensor 6 is attached to both the upper and lower surfaces of the elastic plate 5, allowing a small amount of strain to be output as a large voltage value.

The voltage value based on this amount of distortion is converted into a load value and output. When converting this voltage value into a load, the load meter is pressed with the finger wearing the tactile detection device 1, and the load generated by the pressure and the voltage value are stored in correspondence with each other. These values are then considered to change linearly, and the load is detected from the amount of change in voltage and output.

Next, we will explain how to use the finger tactile detection device 1 configured in this way.

First, when using this tactile detection device 1, the approximate thickness of the finger is measured and it is checked whether the opening width corresponds to that thickness. At this time, if the finger is too thin for the opening width, a spacer 7 of a size corresponding to the holes 31a, 41a of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 is attached to narrow the opening width on the left and right (see Figure 3). On the other hand, if the finger thickness is appropriate for the opening width, the finger is worn as is on the fingertip without attaching the spacer 7 (see Figure 2).

When the tactile sensing device 1 is worn in this manner, the top surface of the opening 20 of the base 2 comes into contact with the top of the nail, and the left and right clamping pieces come into contact with the sides of the finger.

When a finger strikes in this way, the clamping pieces 31, 41 of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 spread out to the left and right, and the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 move downward around the rotating part 22.

When the pivot pieces 34, 44 of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 move downward in this manner, the elastic plate 5 that is bridged between the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 bends downward.

Then, the resistance value of the sensor 6 attached to both sides of the elastic plate 5 changes, and an initial voltage value is output. At this time, this initial voltage value is stored as the initial value.

Next, with the initial values set in this way, if you press your finger against an object, the touch will increase the left-right width of the fingertip as shown in Figure 2, and the clamping pieces 31, 41 of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 will expand left-right.

Then, the tip portions of the pivot pieces 34 and 44 move downward around the pivot part 22, causing the elastic plate 5 to bend significantly downward.

When the elastic plate 5 is bent in this way, the voltage value from the sensor 6 attached to the elastic plate 5 changes, and by taking the difference between this voltage value and the initial state voltage value, the voltage difference is converted into a load and output.

As described above, according to the embodiment, the device is configured to include a base 2 that is attached to the upper tip of a human finger and has a U-shaped opening 20 , a clamping piece 31 that rotates around a rotating part 22 provided inside the opening 20 and clamps the human finger below the rotating part 22, and a rotating piece 34 that is provided horizontally from the rotating part 22, and is configured in an L-shape including a first detection piece 3 and a second detection piece 3, and a strain sensor attached to an elastic plate 5 provided in the gap between the rotating pieces 34 of the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4, which detects the amount of change in the gap width of the rotating pieces based on the spread of the clamping pieces of the first detection piece and the second detection piece when an object is pressed against it by the human finger. Therefore, even when the device is attached to a thick finger, the first detection piece 3 and the second detection piece 4 will not be plastically deformed, and it will be possible to detect the tactile sensation of the finger.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be implemented in various ways.

For example, in the above embodiment, the device is attached to the fingertip to detect the left-right displacement of the fingertip, but the position where the left-right displacement occurs is very small near the fingertip or the first joint, making it impossible to detect accurate displacement. For this reason, a positioning portion that abuts against the fingertip (or the toe of the nail) may be provided, for example, to position the clamping pieces 31, 41 at a position where the displacement of the fingertip is greatest, and with the position of the fingertip attached determined by this positioning portion, the clamping pieces 31, 41 may be positioned at the location where displacement is most likely.

Furthermore , in the above embodiment, the tactile sensation value is output as a load, but it may be output as other parameters such as voltage or amount of distortion.

1: Touch sensing device 2: Base 20: Opening 21: Groove 22: Rotating portion 22a: Hole 22p: Pin 23: Corner 3: First detection piece 31: Clamping piece 31a: Contact portion 32: Hole 33: Hole 34: Rotating piece 4: Second detection piece 41: Clamping piece 41a: Contact portion 42: Hole 43: Hole 44: Rotating piece 5: Elastic plate 6: Sensor 7: Spacer 71: Protrusion

Claims (2)

A base portion that is attached to the upper portion of the tip of a human finger and has a U-shaped opening ;
a first detection piece and a second detection piece configured in an L-shape, the first detection piece and the second detection piece each including a clamping piece that rotates around a rotating part provided inside the opening and clamps a human finger below the rotating part, and a rotating piece that is provided horizontally from the rotating part ;
a sensor that detects a change in the width of the gap between the rotating pieces based on the expansion of the clamping pieces of the first detection piece and the second detection piece when an object is pressed against the gap by a human finger, using a strain sensor attached to an elastic plate provided in the gap between the rotating pieces of the first detection piece and the second detection piece;
A tactile sensation detection device comprising: The tactile detection device according to claim 1, in which a spacer for adjusting the gap between the first detection piece and the second detection piece can be removably attached to the first detection piece and/or the second detection piece.

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