Finger and Palm Dynamic Pressure Monitoring for Basketball Shooting

Abstract

This study verified general inferences on the finger and palm pressure distribution of a basketball player in the moment before that player shoots a basketball through a scientific qualitative testing method. We mounted the sensor on the hands of college basketball players and monitored the dynamic pressure of each player’s hand while the player threw a basketball. The dynamic pressure distribution of the fingers and palm of a basketball player throwing a ball can be verified. According to the experimental results, college basketball players typically use the index finger to control the direction and power of force in the moment before shooting a basketball. This study successfully used a scientific qualitative test method to monitor the dynamic pressure of the fingers and palms of basketball players and verified the general inference that a typical basketball player mainly uses the index finger to control the direction and power of force in the moment before throwing a ball. In the future, this study, measuring the dynamic pressure distribution of the fingers and palm, can be applied to simulate hand manipulation in many biomedical and robotic applications.

Full text

Research Article
Finger and Palm Dynamic Pressure Monitoring for
Basketball Shooting
Chiao-Fang Hung,1Chung-Chiang Chen,2Shin-Hung Lin,1and Tien-Kan Chung1,3
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan
2Oce of Physical Education, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan
3International College of Semiconductor Technology, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan
Correspondence should be addressed to Tien-Kan Chung; tkchung@nctu.edu.tw
Received 3 February 2017; Accepted 4 May 2017; Published 23 May 2017
Academic Editor: Andrea Cusano
Copyright ©  Chiao-Fang Hung et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
is study veried general inferences on the nger and palm pressure distribution of a basketball player in the moment before
that player shoots a basketball through a scientic qualitative testing method. We mounted the sensor on the hands of college
basketball players and monitored the dynamic pressure of each player’s hand while the player threw a basketball. e dynamic
pressure distribution of the ngers and palm of a basketball player throwing a ball can be veried. According to the experimental
results, college basketball players typically use the index nger to control the direction and power of force in the moment before
shooting a basketball. is study successfully used a scientic qualitative test method to monitor the dynamic pressure of the
ngers and palms of basketball players and veried the general inference that a typical basketball player mainly uses the index
nger to control the direction and power of force in the moment before throwing a ball. In the future, this study, measuring the
dynamic pressure distribution of the ngers and palm, can be applied to simulate hand manipulation in many biomedical and
robotic applications.
1. Introduction
A variety of pressure sensors are currently used in the
industry, mainly piezoresistive, capacitive, and piezoelectric
sensors. Among these, piezoresistive pressure sensors [–]
have scope for use in practical applications for sensing the
human body [–], such as all kinds of haptic sensing of the
human body [–] including haptic sensing of ngers and
palms [–].
Recently, a general inference on the nger and palm pres-
sure distribution of a basketball player in the moment before
shooting a basketball has been derived: a typical basketball
player uses the index nger to control the direction and power
of force in the moment before throwing a basketball. To
support this general inference, some researchers claimed that,
according to the principles of human-motion mechanics,
the basketball player uses the index nger to control the
direction and the power of the shooting force in the moment
right before shooting a basketball []. is is because the
index nger is the longest nger and the working distance
is the longest distance, and both are helpful to control the
direction and the power of the force for shooting the bas-
ketball. However, currently, no related experimental dynamic
pressure sensing/monitoring research has been completely
conducted on a basketball player using the index nger in
the moment before throwing a basketball. In other words, the
aforementioned general inference has not been scientically
veried. To qualitatively measure and scientically verify this
general inference, we used the TekScan Grip system []
as a pressure sensor to monitor the dynamic pressure of
thengersandpalmsofbasketballplayerswhiletheywere
throwing balls. By analyzing each player’s result from the
dynamic pressure monitoring of the ngers and palm, we
veried the aforementioned general inference by using a
scientic qualitative test method. Furthermore, our veried
approach measuring the dynamic pressure distribution of
Hindawi
Journal of Sensors
Volume 2017, Article ID 9352410, 5 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/9352410

Journal of Sensors
Sensor tab
Vers a Te k
cu
Cu cable
Monitoring
computer
USB cable
AC power
Vers a Te k
hub
(a)
i1
i2
i3
m1
m2
m3
r2
r1
r3
l1
l2
l3
t1
t2
p1
p2p3
(b)
F : (a) Illustration of TekScan Grip system conguration. (b) Illustration of the nger and palm pressure distribution.
thengersandpalmcanbeappliedinmanybiomedical
and robotic applications for simulating hand manipulation.
For example, our approach can be modied to design an
anthropomorphic robot hand and measure the pressure dis-
tributions of the robot hand [], to achieve haptic feedback
(tactile and force) [, ] in robotic surgery using the da
Vinci robotic system [], and to measure the hand-arm
biodynamic response for real power tool handles []. Due
to these, our approach not only can be used for current
sport-science applications, but also can provide an important
design reference for developing future hand-manipulation
stimulating technologies in medical and robotic applications.
e design, testing, results, and discussion of our approach
are described in the following sections.
2. Design
e TekScan Grip system is illustrated in Figure (a). e
main devices constituting this system are the sensor tab,
VersaTek cu, VersaTek hub, and a monitoring computer. e
area of the sensor tab comprises  independent pressure
sensing areas, which can monitor the pressure of the ngers
and palm. e connection conguration of the TekScan
Grip system is as follows. First, the sensor tab is connected
to the VersaTek cu. e VersaTek cu can transfer the
signals from the sensor tab to the cu cable. Subsequently,
the cu cable is connected to the VersaTek hub. Finally,
the AC power of the VersaTek hub is connected to the
TekScan Grip system, and the VersaTek hub is connected to
the monitoring computer with a USB cable to monitor the
pressure distribution of the ngers and palm. e nger and
palm pressure distribution is shown in Figure (b); the gure
shows the pressure distribution of each area of the palm (𝑝1,
𝑝2,and𝑝3)andeachsegmentofthethumb(𝑡1and 𝑡2), index
nger (𝑖1,𝑖2,and𝑖3), middle nger (𝑚1,𝑚2,and𝑚3), ring
nger (𝑟1,𝑟2,and𝑟3),andlittlenger(𝑙1,𝑙2,and𝑙3). By using
theTekScanGripsystem,wecanmonitorandrecordthe
pressure of the ngers and palm of a basketball player while
that player is throwing a ball and determine the pressure of
each area of the palm and each segment of each nger.
3. Testing
To measure the actual behavior of basketball players, we
asked the college basketball players to wear the sensor system
and perform ball-shooting, and we monitored and recorded
the pressure levels of their right hands. To facilitate the
sensor installation on the hands of the basketball play-
ers, adjust the sensor positions, and avoid hygienic issues,
we mounted the sensor tab on their gloves (latex gloves,
thickness . mm; Taihang Enterprise Co. Ltd., Hsinchu,
Taiwan), following the procedure of Mastalerz et al. [].
Furthermore, to prevent the VersaTek cu from aecting the
operation of the basketball player while shooting the ball, we
carefully axed the VersaTek cu to the upper arm of each
player. Aer completing these congurations of the TekScan
Grip system, we investigated the nger and palm pressure
distributions of the players by analyzing the recording of the
sensor system. In addition, the players who we chose for
test have common features: college student, about  years
old, having a little nonprofessional basketball training (e.g.,
school team member or department team member), and
about – cm height with a similar stature. Due to the
choosing criteria, the test results are comparable.
4. Results and Discussion
e records of the nger and palm dynamic pressure dis-
tributions of college basketball players, that is, the school
basketball team member and the department basketball team
member, are shown in Figures  and , respectively. We can
analyze the results of the dynamic pressure monitoring of
the ngers and palm in three stages (rst, holding the ball;
second, liing the ball overhead; and third, the moment

Journal of Sensors 
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(e) (f)
F : Photographs while shooting a ball and the nger and palm pressure distribution of the school basketball team member at the
following stages: (a, b) holding the ball, (c, d) liing the ball overhead, and (e, f) the moment before shooting the ball.
before shooting the ball). By comparing these distributions
of dynamic pressure of the nger and palm, we obtained the
following results. While holding the ball, most of the ngers
of both basketball players had a high-pressure distribution,
as shown in Figures (a), (b), (a), and (b). Because each
player’s habits are dierent, the pressure distributions were
also dierent. While liing the ball overhead, the nger
and palm pressure distribution of both basketball players
was observed on all ngers, as shown in Figures (c), (d),
(c), and (d). Finally, in the moment before shooting the
ball, both basketball players mainly used the index nger
to control the direction and power for shooting the ball,
as shown in Figures (e), (f), (e), and (f ). ese results
are consistent with the aforementioned general inference.
us, we successfully veried the general inference on the
nger and palm pressure distribution by using the scientic
qualitative test method.
5. Conclusions
By using the piezoresistive pressure sensing/monitoring sys-
tem, we successfully veried the general inference on the
nger and palm dynamic pressure distr ibution in the moment
while the basketball players throw the ball (i.e., during
ball-shooting). e experimental results of the dynamic
pressure monitoring revealed that the college basketball play-
ers mainly used the index nger to control the direction and
power for shooting the ball. ese results not only veried
the general inference but also could provide a reference for
current basketball sport science. Moreover, our approach
can provide an important design reference for future hand-
manipulation simulating technologies in medical and robotic
applications.
Conflicts of Interest
e authors declare that there are no conicts of interest
regarding the publication of this paper.
Authors’ Contributions
Chiao-Fang Hung and Chung-Chiang Chen contributed
equally to this work.
Acknowledgments
isworkissupportedbytheMinistryofScienceand
Technology, Taiwan (Grant no. --E---MY).

Journal of Sensors
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(e) (f)
F : Photographs while shooting a ball and the nger and palm pressure distribution of the department basketball team member at the
following stages: (a, b) holding the ball, (c, d) liing the ball overhead, and (e, f) the moment before shooting the ball.
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