Flexible and stretchable fabric-based tactile sensor

Abstract

h i g h l i g h t s• A flexible and stretchable durable fabric-based tactile sensor capable of capturing typical human interaction forces was developed.• We present elaborate measurement results of the sensor. • A process of creating multiple sensor areas in a single fabric patch was developed.• The measures against performance degradation due to moisture are presented. • Using the developed technology, a tactile dataglove with 54 pressure sensitive regions was built.a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Available online xxxx Keywords: Tactile sensor Flexible tactile sensor Stretchable tactile sensor Tactile dataglove a b s t r a c tWe introduce a novel, fabric-based, flexible, and stretchable tactile sensor, which is capable of seamlessly covering natural shapes. As humans and robots have curved body parts that move with respect to each other, the practical usage of traditional rigid tactile sensor arrays is limited. Rather, a flexible tactile skin is required. Our design allows for several tactile cells to be embedded in a single sensor patch. It can have an arbitrary perimeter and can cover free-form surfaces. In this article we discuss the construction of the sensor and evaluate its performance. Our flexible tactile sensor remains operational on top of soft padding such as a gel cushion, enabling the construction of a human-like soft tactile skin. The sensor allows pressure measurements to be read from a subtle less than 1 kPa up to high pressures of more than 500 kPa, which easily covers the common range for everyday human manual interactions. Due to a layered construction, the sensor is very robust and can withstand normal forces multiple magnitudes higher than what could be achieved by a human without sustaining damage.As an exciting application for the sensor, we describe the construction of a wearable tactile dataglove with 54 tactile cells and embedded data acquisition electronics. We also discuss the necessary implementation details to maintain long term sensor performance in the presence of moisture.

Emerging flexible and wearable physical sensing platforms for healthcare and biomedical applications

“…Indeed, conductive textiles, now more commonly known as e-textiles, have gained popularity owing to their robustness and versatility. They are capable of sustaining high pressure without mechanical breakage 94 . Currently, conductive textiles have been adopted in various apparel, such as gloves 91,94 , shirts 95,96 , and socks 97 .…”

Estimating unknown object dynamics in human-robot manipulation tasks

“…Note that any number of human and robotic partners can be incorporated into the model (17), by appropriately including agents' end-effectors' wrenches acting on the object in (16), and accounting for the relative kinematics.…”

“…Human motion is typically acquired using wearable inertial measurement units or vision-based techniques. Wearable tactile devices (such as tactile gloves [16]) will allow accurate measurements of the human wrenches to be obtained in the foreseeable future. In addition, human wrench could also be estimated using vision approaches, such as [17].…”

Distributed force sensor based on acoustic characteristics of elastic tube

“…The sensor array is basically a discrete-point system and is not able to respond to the force/strain applied between the sensor elements. Cable-type sensors based on conductive rubber or piezoelectric materials have been developed [7,8] but these sensors have no spatial resolution. On the other hand, fiber optic sensor based on Brillouin scattering have been intensively developed for distributed stress measurement to monitor the structural health of civil engineering structures [9].…”