Design of low-cost tactile force sensor for 3D force scan

A new 3D tactile sensor was proposed for measuring tri-axial ground reaction force distribution. Pressure sensitive electric conductive rubber (PSECR) and smart pectinate circuits were used to design the pressure sensing cells in the 3D force sensor, making it possible to implement a low-cost, compact and light sensing matrix which is highly sensitive in measuring force distribution. Moreover, to address the application for measurements of human touch force, we adopted the elastic rubber as the sensor input component to realize a comfortable human-sensor interface. A compact electrical hardware system including amplifiers module, conditioning circuits and a micro-computer controller and wireless modules was developed to sample sensor outputs into personal computer for data processing. Calibration experiments were conducted, in which a smart 3-axial force sensor (Tec Gihan, Japan) was used as the verification measurement device.