Scalable six-axis force-torque sensor with a large range for biomechanical applications

Author

Brookhuis, R.A. ; Wiegerink, R.J. ; Lammerink, T.S.J. ; de Boer, M.J. ; Ma, K. ; Elwenspoek, M.C.

Author_Institution

MESA+ Inst. for Nanotechnol., Univ. of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

fYear

2012

fDate

Jan. 29 2012-Feb. 2 2012

Firstpage

595

Lastpage

598

Abstract

A scalable silicon six-axis force-torque sensor is designed and realized to be used for measurement of the power transfer between the human body and the environment. Capacitive readout is used to detect all axial force components and all torque components simultaneously. Small electrode gaps in combination with mechanical amplification by the sensor structure result in a high sensitivity. The miniature sensor has a wide force range of up to 50 N in normal direction, 10 N in shear direction and 25 N-mm of maximum torque around each axis, and can easily be scaled to adapt for other force/torque ranges.

Keywords

biomechanics; biomedical electrodes; electrodes; elemental semiconductors; force sensors; silicon; torque; axial force components; biomechanical applications; power transfer measurement; scalable mechanical amplification; scalable silicon six-axis force-torque sensor; sensor structure; shear direction; small electrode gaps; torque components; Capacitance; Electrodes; Force; Force measurement; Robot sensing systems; Semiconductor device measurement; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 2012 IEEE 25th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Paris

ISSN

1084-6999

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-0324-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2012.6170258

Filename

6170258