Abstract
This paper reports the development of a tactile sensor for early detection of breast cancer. The sensor consists of a PVDF film, which is used to imitate the Pacinian corpuscles of human rapid tactile receptor and a layer of pressure-sensitive conductive rubber, which is used to imitate the Merkel's disks of human slow tactile receptor. Outputs of the two sensory materials are used in the detection of stiffness of human body tissues. The sensor was testified on a breast cancer model and the result showed that the sensor could successfully discriminate the difference in the stiffness of normal breast tissue, breast cancer tissue and tissue of fibroadenoma.
