Design and prototyping of a fiber optic tactile array

Robots and machines need a sense of touch for more intelligent operation. Many current tactile sensors used for detailed sensing over a large and continuous area often consume too much power, cannot provide the density of sensing points needed for shape sensing, and are not economical or practical. A pressure sensor based on reflected light intensity, fiber optics and compressible materials can eliminate or reduce many of these problems. The design allows a sensor with a large number of taxels to be implemented at low cost. Two prototypes were designed, built and evaluated. The first prototype included the testing of three sensing points and various materials as integrating chambers. The second prototype included a matrix array of sensing points, and software to measure and record, calibrate and graphically display data.