Abstract
This paper presents the development of a finger-mounted tactile sensor for surface deflection detection. The sensor is composed of a thin rubber sheet and a silicone rubber with the void in the center. On the center of the rubber sheet, two strain gauges are attached point-symmetrically. One's finger is put on the silicone rubber of the sensor and the sensor is slid over the objective surface. For mounting the sensor on the finger, the sensor is embedded in a cotton work glove. By obtaining difference between the two strain gauges, the sensor responds to the surface deflection. It does not respond to the uniform surface. Furthermore, real-time signal processing utilizing the wavelet transformation is proposed for detecting surface deflection from the sensor output. Experiments are carried out on the plane surface and curved surface. Results show that the sensor is capable of detecting surface deflection.
