Analysis of human grasping using robotic force sensor

In the paper we present the grip force tracking system for the assessment of hand functionality and grip force control. The system consists of a grip-measuring device based on the robotic force-wrist sensor which can measure the three-dimensional forces applied. Different end-objects can be exchanged to assess the forces of the grips used in daily activities. The device was used as an input to the tracking task where the subject applied the grip force according to the visual information from the computer screen. The performance of the tracking task was evaluated from the tracking error between the target signal and the measured response. We assessed the grip force control in 20 patients with neuromuscular disease comparing the results with the group of healthy subjects. The results show that the method could be used for the assessment of the muscle fatigue, hand strength and dexterity, muscle activation patterns and tremor.