Application of magnetic type tactile sensor to gripper

We have proposed a magnetic type tactile sensor which can measure a three-axis displacement and a three-axis force. The sensor has a simple structure which is composed of two layers, an elastic layer and a substrate layer. The elastic layer is made of an elastic material and houses cylindrical permanent magnets inside. The substrate layer is a glass epoxy board and has giant magneto resistance (GMR) elements. Feature of this sensor is a wiring reduction between two layers. It is easy to replace the elastic layer after a long usage. The components of the sensor are not expensive, and the cost of the commercial manufacturing can be lowered. In this paper, we describe a structure of the sensor. We design a sensor which has two magnets inside, and confirm the performances of a prototype through the laboratory experiments. Additionally, we apply the sensor to a robotic gripper. We verify that the gripper is able to pinch some soft or hard objects with a simple threshold condition.