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Capacitive Tactile Sensing Array(CTSA)

Ming-Yuan Cheng, Xin-Hua Huang, Chun-Liang Lin, and Cheng-Wen Ma

In this work, we present the development of a capacitive tactile sensing array realized by using MEMS fabrication techniques and flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) technologies. The sensing array, which consists of two micromachined polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) structures and a flexible FPCB, will be used as the artificial skin for robot applications. Each capacitive sensing element comprises two sensing electrodes and a common floating electrode. The sensing electrodes as well as the metal interconnect for signal scanning are implemented on the FPCB, while the floating electrode is patterned on one of the PDMS structures. This special design can effectively reduce the complexity of device structure and thus makes the device highly manufacturable. The characteristics of the devices with different dimensions are measured and discussed. The corresponding scanning circuit are also designed and implemented. The tactile images induced by the PMMA stamps of different shapes are also successfully captured by a fabricated 8x8 array.

Figure 1. (a) The schematic of the capacitive sensing array proposed in this work. (b) The exploded drawing of the sensing array.

Figure 2. The detailed illustration and dimensions of the proposed tactile sensing element. This figure is not to scale.

Figure 3. (a) The fabricated PDMS bump layer. (b) The fabricated PDMS structure layer. (c) The FPCB layer. (d) The fabricated flexible 8x8 tactile sensing array.

Publications：

1. M-Y Cheng, X-H Huang, C-W Ma and Y-J Yang "A flexible capacitive tactile sensing array with floating electrodes," Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, vol. 19, pp. 1-10, 2009. (SCI/EI)

2.M.-Y. Cheng, B.-T. Liao, X.-H. Huang and Y.-J. Yang, “A flexible tactile sensing array based on novel capacitance mechanism,” 15th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2009 (Transducers' 09), pp. 2182-2185, 2009. (Oral presentation)


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