Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : June 08, 2016 - June 11, 2016
In this paper, we propose a new string-shaped tactile sensor that is thin, long and flexible. The sensor is constructed of a speaker, a flexible tube and a microphone (Fig.2). When the tube is touched, it's hollow sectional area around the touch point shall change. We estimate the position of touch and the force of touch by calculating the changes of the tube's sectional area by using acoustic signal that the microphone acquires. The sensor can wind around and fit tightly to any object with 3D free form including devices and machines, for example nursing-care robots.