Estimation of Finger Pad Deformation Based on Skin Deformation Transferred to the Radial Side

Techniques to measure the deformation of finger pad when rubbing material surfaces are important for the analysis of textural sensations and development of tactile texture displays. However, such measurements are difficult because when the finger pad is in contact with the material surfaces, it is not exposed for measurement. We developed a technique to estimate finger pad shear deformation by using the skin deformation transferred to the side of the fingertip. Good agreement was shown between measured finger pad accelerations and those estimated by our method. The skin deformation of the finger side can be effectively used to estimate that of the finger pad with an average accuracy of 0.93.