CHAPTER

Mechanical Sensors
and Actuators

The hand
The hand is the main body organ for interaction with the environment. An actuator as well as
a sensor, it is an amazing organ when one really thinks about it. As an actuator it contains 27
bones, of which 14 make up the fingers or digital bones (3 on each finger except the thumb,
which has only two), 5 are in the palm (metacarpal bones), and 8 in the wrist (carpal bones).
Their structure and interconnections together with a complex series of muscles and tendons
give the human hand a flexibility and dexterity not found in any other animal. Apes, monkeys,
and lemurs have hands similar to humans, and other animals such as the koala have
opposing thumbs, which are useful for climbing, but none are as flexible as the human hand.
The hand can perform articulation of the finger bones, between the fingers and the palm,
between the palm and the wrist, and between the wrist and the arm. Together with additional
articulations at the elbow and shoulder, the hand is a multiaxis actuator capable of surprisingly delicate as well as gross motions. But the hand is also a tactile sensor. The fingertips in
particular have the densest nerve endings in the body. They provide feedback for manipulation of objects or sense by direct touch. The hands are controlled by opposing brain
hemispheres (left hand by the right hemisphere and right hand by the left hemisphere). This is
true of other paired organs, including the eyes and legs.

Sensing and the skin

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, covering the whole body with a layer that
averages 23 mm in thickness and an average area close to 2 m2. As with other organs, it is
multifunctional, serving as a protection layer for intrusion of organisms into the body, preventing loss of fluid through it, and absorbing vitamin D. It also protects the body from
harmful radiation by absorbing ultraviolet radiation in melatonin as well as absorbing oxygen
and excreting some chemicals. A critical function is insulation and heat regulation through
sweat mechanisms and blood vessels in the dermis (the layer just below the thin, externally
visible surface, called the epidermis). But of particular interest here is the function of the skin
for sensing. Nerve endings on the skin sense heat, cold, pressure, vibration, and damage
(injury), although the sensitivity varies from place to place. Not only can we sense with
the skin, but localization of stimuli is very good and quite accurate, allowing us to detect the
location of the stimulus on that large surface.

6.1

INTRODUCTION

The class of mechanical sensors includes a fairly large number of different sensors based
on many principles, but the four groups of general sensors discussed hereforce sensors, accelerometers, pressure sensors, and gyroscopescover most of the principles
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