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3DA: Assessing 3D-Printed Electrodes for Measuring Electrodermal Activity

Martin Schmitz, Dominik Schön, Henning Klagemann, Thomas Kosch

TL;DR

The concept of 3D printing electrodes for EDA measurements, integrating sensors into arbitrary 3D-printed objects, alleviating the need for complex assembly and attachment is explored, and design implications to facilitate the integration of EDA sensors into 3D-printed devices are derived.

Abstract

Electrodermal activity (EDA) reflects changes in skin conductance, which are closely tied to human psychophysiological states. For example, EDA sensors can assess stress, cognitive workload, arousal, or other measures tied to the sympathetic nervous system for interactive human-centered applications. Yet, current limitations involve the complex attachment and proper skin contact with EDA sensors. This paper explores the concept of 3D printing electrodes for EDA measurements, integrating sensors into arbitrary 3D-printed objects, alleviating the need for complex assembly and attachment. We examine the adaptation of conventional EDA circuits for 3D-printed electrodes, assessing different electrode shapes and their impact on the sensing accuracy. A user study (N=6) revealed that 3D-printed electrodes can measure EDA with similar accuracy, suggesting larger contact areas for improved precision. We derive design implications to facilitate the integration of EDA sensors into 3D-printed devices to foster diverse integration into everyday objects for prototyping physiological interfaces.

3DA: Assessing 3D-Printed Electrodes for Measuring Electrodermal Activity

TL;DR

The concept of 3D printing electrodes for EDA measurements, integrating sensors into arbitrary 3D-printed objects, alleviating the need for complex assembly and attachment is explored, and design implications to facilitate the integration of EDA sensors into 3D-printed devices are derived.

Abstract

Electrodermal activity (EDA) reflects changes in skin conductance, which are closely tied to human psychophysiological states. For example, EDA sensors can assess stress, cognitive workload, arousal, or other measures tied to the sympathetic nervous system for interactive human-centered applications. Yet, current limitations involve the complex attachment and proper skin contact with EDA sensors. This paper explores the concept of 3D printing electrodes for EDA measurements, integrating sensors into arbitrary 3D-printed objects, alleviating the need for complex assembly and attachment. We examine the adaptation of conventional EDA circuits for 3D-printed electrodes, assessing different electrode shapes and their impact on the sensing accuracy. A user study (N=6) revealed that 3D-printed electrodes can measure EDA with similar accuracy, suggesting larger contact areas for improved precision. We derive design implications to facilitate the integration of EDA sensors into 3D-printed devices to foster diverse integration into everyday objects for prototyping physiological interfaces.
Paper Structure (18 sections, 1 figure, 2 tables)

This paper contains 18 sections, 1 figure, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Sensing Electrodermal Activity
  4. 3D-Printed Physiological Sensors
  5. Using Electrodermal Activity for Interactive Applications
  6. Efficiency of 3D-Printed Electrode Shape on EDA Measurements
  7. Study Setup
  8. Method
  9. Independent Variables
  10. Dependent Variables
  11. Procedure & Task
  12. Data Processing
  13. Results
  14. General Observations
  15. Correlation Between 3D-Printed and Commercial Electrodes
  16. ...and 3 more sections

Figures (1)

  • Figure 1: Exemplarily plot between the Grove EDA electrodes and the large circular 3D-printed electrodes with the highest correlation, averaged across all participants. The curves were divided by their mean and filtered with a low-pass filter at a cutoff frequency of 0.5 Hz. The vertical black lines indicate the times of the oddball stimulus.