Evaluation of contact stimuli by diapers for infants: Relationship between contact stimuli and walking motion

This paper describes the investigation of a relationship between contact stimulus and walking movements. Until now, a sensor system for measurement of contact stimulus applied to infants by diapers has been developed. The sensor comprises a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film and a strain gauge. A dummy infant fitted with the sensor has been designed and built for measuring the contact stimuli during walking movement. Using this system, contact force and diaper friction against the skin are measured as the contact stimuli. The features of obtained data are extracted by performing signal processing in order to investigate the feature of the contact stimuli during the walking movements. From the results of signal processing, time variation of the contact stimuli was obtained. The experimental results show that the feature of contact stimulus in relation to the walking movements can be evaluated.