Planer tactile sensor based on the difference of arrival time of pneumatic pressure

Abstract

In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a new type of soft tactile sensor. This sensor consists of multiple air pressure sensors attached on to the same single air chamber. In this sensor, based on the phenomenon where sensors are subject to different delays depending on positions relative to a source of a pneumatic pressure changing, the contact position can be estimated from the difference of arrival time. In addition, the air chamber functions as a bumper to protect this sensor and underlying mechanism. The experimental results show that the validity of the core idea and the applicability of this sensor.