Simulating human fingers: a soft finger proxy model and algorithm

This paper presents models and algorithms that can be used to simulate contact between one or more fingertips and a virtual object. First, the paper presents various models for rotational friction obtained from in-vivo fingertip models previously proposed in the robotics and biomechanics community. Then the paper describes two sets of experiments that were performed on in-vivo fingertips in order to understand which of the models presented fits best with the real rotational friction properties of the human fingertips. Finally an extension of the god object/proxy algorithm which allows the simulation of soft finger contact, i.e. a point-contact with friction capable of supporting moments (up to a torsional friction limit) about the contact normal, is proposed. The resulting algorithm is computationally efficient, being point-based, while retaining a good level of realism.