バルーンの膨張現象を利用した触覚センサ

—生体適合型センサシステムの開発—

抄録

The aim of this study is the development of a biocompatible tactile sensor for measuring softness, sliminess, smoothness, and so on. We have proposed active tactile sensing method using balloon expansion. A balloon is contacted with an object and expanded by using fluid. Tactile information is evaluated by measuring the expansion process. In this paper, we develop a sensor system using a syringe. It is a compact system and can ensure enough safety for human body tissues by sterilization and using no electric power. Pressure changes and volume changes of the balloon can be measured together in the expansion. First, overview of the developed sensor system is presented. Next, composition of the sensor system and the sensing process are presented. Then, experiments using the developed sensor system are conducted on samples with different stiffness and surface conditions. Features extracted from sensor outputs can discriminate the samples and have clear correlations with stiffness and sliminess. The results show the validity of the proposed sensor system.