The focus of this research is to analyse both human hand motion and force, during eating, with respect to differing food\ncharacteristics and cutlery (including a fork and a spoon). A glove consisting of bend and force sensors has been used to capture\nthe motion and contact force exerted by fingers during different eating activities. The Pearson correlation coefficient has been\nused to show that a significant linear relationship exists between the bending motion of the fingers and the forces exerted during\neating. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent samples t-tests are performed to establish whether the motion and\nforce exerted by the fingers while eating is influenced by the different food characteristics and cutlery. The middle finger motion\nshowed the least positive correlation with index fingertip and thumb-tip force, irrespective of the food characteristics and cutlery\nused. The ANOVA and t-test results revealed that bending motion of the index finger and thumb varies with respect to differing\nfood characteristics and the type of cutlery used (fork/spoon), whereas the bending motion of the middle finger remains\nunaffected. Additionally, the contact forces exerted by the thumb tip and index fingertip remain unaffected with respect to\ndiffering food types and cutlery used.
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