Understanding of human tactile mechanism in comparing material properties through the analysis of displacement on foil surface

Due to the increasing number of rehabilitation product related to human-robotic interfaces, tactile sensation will provide excellent hints on the research progress in robotic field. The objective of this research is to study on the decisive factor of human being in differentiating the thickness between two thin foils; which is the stainless steel and copper. In this study, the finite element (FE) simulation of the fingertip´s 3D elastic model has been performed by the aid of CATIA V5. From calculated results, we examined the displacement rate of the foil. As a result, the displacement rate for copper (which was monitored at the foil surface) is always higher compared to stainless steel. By comparing with previous psychophysics result, the simulation also proves similar traits; where human subjects discriminate thickness of foil according to material hardness when t <; 100 μm, thickness is undetermined when 100 <; t <; 350 μm and evaluation is done via another system when t > 350 μm.