A soft multi-axis force sensor

Author

Vogt, Dominik ; Yong-Lae Park ; Wood, Robert J.

Author_Institution

Harvard Microrobotics Lab., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

28-31 Oct. 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

Thin, highly compliant sensing skins could provide valuable information for a host of grasping and locomotion tasks with minimal impact on the host system. We describe the design, fabrication and characterization of a novel soft multi-axis force sensor made of highly deformable materials. The sensor is capable of not only measuring normal force and but also 2D in-plane forces. This soft sensor is composed of an elastomer (modulus: 69 kPa) embedded with microchannels filled with conductive liquid. Depending on the intensity and the direction of an applied force, the cross-section of some of the channels will be compressed, changing its electrical resistance. The channel dimensions of the current prototype are 200 μm × 200 μm and the overall size of the sensor is 50 mm × 60 mm × 7 mm. Characterization results showed sensitivities in the two principal in-plane directions of 37.0 mV/N and -28.6 mV/N, respectively.

Keywords

elastomers; force sensors; microfluidics; microsensors; skin; 2D in-plane force; conductive liquid; elastomer; grasping tasks; highly deformable material; locomotion tasks; sensing skins; size 200 mum; size 50 mm; size 60 mm; size 7 mm; soft multiaxis force sensor; soft sensor; Force; Force sensors; Microchannel; Robot sensing systems; Skin;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sensors, 2012 IEEE

Conference_Location

Taipei

ISSN

1930-0395

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-1766-6

Electronic_ISBN

1930-0395

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSENS.2012.6411573

Filename

6411573