Ming-Yuan Cheng, Chan-Mo Tsao, Yu-Tze Lai, and Cheng-Wen Ma
This paper presents a novel design of highly twistable tactile sensing array.The proposed artificial skin, which employ extendable spiral electrodes, are highly flexible and durable so that it can conform to more complex surfaces without damaging the skin structure and the metal interconnects on the sensing array.Polydimethylsiloxsane (PDMS) is employed as the main structure material of the skin, and the conductive polymer is used as the tactile sensing elements. The corresponding scanning circuit for resistive sensing array will also be designed and implemented.The electrical and mechanical characteristics of conductive polymer are measured, and the tactile images induced by PMMA stamps of different shapes are successfully captured.Also, the fabricated sensing array can be twisted up to 70 degree without any damage in structure or functionality.
Figure 1. (a) The two-axes sketching capability skin. (b) Extendable spiral electrode. (c)The schematic diagram of the proposed artificial skin.
Figure 2. The schematic of a tactile sensing element without and with applied pressure. Note that Rs and Rs0 are the resistances of the sensing element with and without applied pressure, respectively.
Figure 3. (a) The fabricated extendable spiral electrode. (b) The process of dispensing conductive polymer materials using an automatic dispenser. (c) The dispensed conductive polymer array on the row interconnect. (d)~(f) The pictures of the fabricated tactile sensing array.
Publications： 1. M.-Y. Cheng, C.-M. Tsao, Y.-Z. Lai and Y.-J. Yang, “The development of a highly twistable tactile sensing array with stretchable helical electrodes,” Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, (Minor optional revisions, Article ID: SNA-S-09-00368). (SCI/EI)
2. M.-Y. Cheng, C.-M. Tsao and Y.-J. Yang, “A novel highly-twistable tactile sensing array using extendable spiral electrodes,” 22nd IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS 2009), pp.92-95, 2009. (Oral presentation)
3.C.-M. Tsao, M.-Y. Cheng and Y.-J. Yang, “Highly Twistable Tactile Sensing Array for Humanoid Robot Applications,” Proceedings of the 26th National Conference on Mechanical Engineering of CSME, 2009. (Oral presentation)
Address :
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Taiwan University,
No. 1, Roosevelt Rd., Sec. 4, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C)
