Effect on manual skills of wearing instrumented gloves during manipulation

Instrumented gloves are motion capture systems that are widely used due to the simplicity of the setup required and the absence of occlusion problems when manipulating objects. Nevertheless, the effect of their use on manipulation capabilities has not been studied to date. Therefore, the aim of this work is to quantify the effect of wearing CyberGlove instrumented gloves on these capabilities when different levels of precision are required. Thirty healthy subjects were asked to perform three standardised dexterity tests twice: bare-handed and wearing instrumented gloves. The tests were the Sollerman Hand Function Test (to evaluate capability of performing activities of daily living), the Box and Block Test (to evaluate gross motor skills) and the Purdue Pegboard Test (to evaluate fine motor skills). Scores obtained in the test evaluating fine motor skills decreased by an average of 29% when wearing gloves, while scores obtained on those evaluating gross motor skills and capability to perform activities of daily living were reduced by an average of 8% and 3%, respectively. The use of instrumented gloves to record hand kinematics is only recommended when performing tasks requiring medium and gross motor skills.