Imaging Sub-surface Skin Strain Patterns During Fingertip Sliding

Mechanoreceptors in the human fingertip are separated from external tactile stimuli by several skin layers with different mechanical properties and complex morphology. Understanding the biomechanics of sub-surface skin layers is therefore fundamental for understanding the human tactile sensory system. Here, we employ Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to image the skin's internal morphology during natural sliding interaction with objects. We demonstrate that this approach can be used to reconstruct strain rates within different skin layers during dynamic object contact.