A test bench setup with programmable trajectory for IMU-based dataglove development

This paper presents a test bench created during development of an IMU-based dataglove. The system allows gathering synchronised hand phantom posture and trajectory, together with inertial sensor data for evaluation of posture recognition algorithms. The setup includes an inertial measurement system, with IMU modules designed to be mounted on human hand or a phantom, together with proper embedded firmware and PC software. The system uses a collaborative Universal Robots UR3 robot arm for generation of trajectories and as a source of ground truth data. The program used to control the robot together with a method of gathered data synchronisation are described. The test bench has been successfully used during development of a joint angles estimating algorithm.