title: Information capacity of the thumb and the index finger in communication.
abstract: Due to its large number of degrees of freedom and extensive connection to the brain, the human hand has been used to create channels of communication for a variety of human-machine systems. However, a fundamental question about the hand channel is still unanswered: what is its information capacity? This study aims to provide quantitative indication of effectiveness of the hand as a communication channel. We estimated that per gesture, the thumb and the index finger may deliver at most 10 and 7 bits of information, respectively. Based on this, we derived an upper bound for the information capacity of the hand in gesture-based communication: 150 b/s. Knowing this bound is critical to evaluating the potential and limitation of the hand channel for various forms of human-machine interactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. maozh@engr.pitt.edu
authors.forename: Zhi-Hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Heung-No
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Sclabassi
authors.forename: Mingui
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D004867:Equipment Design; D005384:Finger Joint / Q000502:physiology; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology*; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007257:Information Theory; D008328:Man-Machine Systems; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D013933:Thumb / Q000502:physiology