Nonlinear Tactile Element

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The goal of our research is to develop a stretchable sensor skin that covers a large area such as a whole surface of a robot.
We propose a new sensor element for the tactile sensor skin.

Fig.1 Tactile sensor skin.
It is soft, stretchable, and capable of covering a large area.
Measured data are multi-hopped
by sensor/communication chips. (Cell-bridge system)

Because the side length of the sensor element is several cm, we can cover a large area with a small amount of the sensor elements.
The sensor element acquires not only "contact force" but also "contact area" so that it can detect various touch feelings. >> Detail
The structure of the sensor element is very simple;
two layers of compressible insulators which are sandwiched between three pieces of stretchable conductive sheets.
We measure the capacitances between the conductive pieces. >> Structure and Sensing Theory

Fig.2 Sensor element.
Fig.3 Outputs of sensor element (Capacitance variations). Measured (ΔC1, ΔC2)s draw trajectories which vary with stimulators. The larger pressing force becomes, the larger the distance between the origin and (ΔC1, ΔC2) is. (Demo movie / 3.0 MB)			Fig.4 Stimulators. A: 0.5 mm in diameter, B: 1cm, C: 2cm, D: Whole area.

Release: 1 Apr. 2005
Update: 8 Feb. 2006
Takayuki Hoshi: star(at)alab.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp