Title

Nano-Skin: an innovative sensing system for human state recognition based on physiological cues

Advisor(s)

Yingzi Lin

Contributor(s)

Ronald R. Mourant, Sagar Kamarthi

Date of Award

2010

Date Accepted

10-2010

Degree Grantor

Northeastern University

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department or Academic Unit

College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Keywords

industrial engineering, human-machine systems, human state, physiological parameter, sensors, skin temperature

Disciplines

Industrial Engineering

Abstract

Human state is one of the main factors that determine the performance of human-machine systems. Monitoring human state in human-machine systems is a very useful way to enhance the human-machine interaction, optimize system performance, decrease cost and accident risk, and improve professional training. After reviewing the corresponding technologies, this study revealed that human physiological cues are more suitable for monitoring human state in human-machine systems than machine dynamic cues. This study was focused on developing an innovative sensing system, i.e. Nano-Skin, to non-intrusively measure physiological cues from human-machine contact surfaces for human state recognition.

The first part of this paper is to analyze characteristics of human-machine contact, and to find appropriate physiological cues for evaluating human state. The physiological cues that can be measured from human-machine contact surfaces include heart rate, skin conductance, skin temperature, operating force, blood alcohol concentration, sweat rate, and electromyography. The second part is to develop proper sensing technologies to non-intrusively measure physiological cues from human-machine contact surfaces. The common sensors along with MEMS and Nano sensors were reviewed and compared. It was found that MEMS sensors and Nano sensors can achieve better performance than common sensors, and offer unique contributions to human-machine contact based non-intrusive measurement of physiological cues. The third part is to discuss the design and manufacture of Nano-Skin. Nano-Skin generally involves five components: a flexible substrate, sensors, a special integrated circuit, interconnection between the sensors and the special integrated circuit, and a protective layer.

Furthermore, two groups of experiments were carried out in this study. Experiment group No.1 was designed to verify the manufacturing process of Nano-Skin. It proved that this manufacturing process is feasible and repeatable. Experiment group No.2 tested the performance of the Nano-Skin with deposited platinum. The result showed that the Nano-Skin with deposited platinum can achieve larger relative resistive change in temperature measurement than the Pt1000Ω thermometer. The general nature of Nano-Skin sensors shows that smaller sensors usually have larger relative resistive change, shorter response time, and a shorter recovery time.

Document Type

Dissertation

Rights Information

copyright 2010

Rights Holder

Hongjie Leng



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