image: (A) shows a sketch of the experimental setup. (B) shows a snapshot of the contact between the fingerprinted cap and a smooth glass slide as the sensor moves across the slide. The wells between the cap's ridges appear bright and the red circle defines the border of the contact, which is also illustrated in (A). Actual contact only occurs on the ridges' summits. The ridges are slightly deformed around the contact due to friction between the two surfaces. (C) For comparison, this snapshot displays the contact between a human fingertip and a smooth glass surface. In both images, the white bar is 2 millimeters long. This image accompanied the report, "The Role of Fingerprints in the Coding of Tactile Information Probed with a Biomimetic Sensor," by Dr. Scheibert et. al. appearing in the Jan. 30, 2009, issue of Science. view more
Credit: Image copyright <i>Science</i>-AAAS