A Study on Quantification of Kinesthetic Sense Using Human Sensibility Ergonomics Approach

운동감의 정량화를 위한 감성공학적 기법 개발에 관한 연구

When grasping a movable object or making an object move, humans feel kinesthetic sense. The kinesthetic sense is the human sense that the human feels in response to the motion acted on him. The objective of the paper is to transform the kinesthetic sense associated with the human arm into the quantified data that are useful from the engineering viewpoint. A 2-dimensional motion generator composed of two linear motors was developed to provide various motion patterns. It can change its stiffness and damping values on the real-time basis by properly regulating the force generated by the linear motors. Based on Taguchi method, the most dominant factors to affect the kinesthetic sense were investigated. Also, a reference function adequate to quantify the kinesthetic sense was found. Based on this function, the effects of changes in stiffness and damping on the kinesthetic sense were investigated. Various tests show that the damping is a more dominant factor than the stiffness in forming the kinesthetic sense.