Effect of Aspect Ratio of the Elastic Body of a Flexible Sensor for Three-axis Measurement of Normal and Shearing Loads

Abstract

A flexible tactile sensor has previously been developed for three-axis load measurement using an electrically conductive material and a flexible cylindrical elastic body. The present study attempted to develop a flexible contact sensor capable of measuring a wide range of loads. The diameter of the cylindrical elastic body was fixed at 10 mm, and by changing its aspect ratio from 0.10 to 1.00, the normal load was found to decrease from 132 to 33 N. In addition, the shearing load decreased from 4.2 to 0.9 N by changing the aspect ratio from 0.25 to 1.00.