A flexible tactile sensor based on piezoresistive thin film for 3D force detection

This paper presents a flexible tactile sensor with a compact structure based on a piezoresistive thin film and an elastomer for detecting three-dimensional (3D) force. The film contains four independent sensing cells, which were made using a type of piezoresistive ink and a specific pectinate conductive circuit pattern based on the flexible substrate to decrease the coupling effect. The elastomer with a spherical surface is bonded to the surface of the film and transfers the force to the sensing array. A model of 3D force detection based on the proposed sensor was established, and a prototype was designed and developed. Static and dynamic experiments were carried out, and the results show that the range of the prototype is 0-50 N in the z-axis and 0-6 N in the x-axis and y-axis, which with good static and dynamic performance, especially a low coupling effect, validates the mechanism of the proposed sensor and indicates that it has good potential application in robotic grasping.