気液境界面変位を利用した柔軟な静電容量型三軸触覚センサ

抄録

Tactile sensors are necessary for robots to understand surrounding environments and their states. Recently, soft tactile sensors have been widely developed to integrate them into soft robots. Although, the detection parts and substrates of many soft tactile sensors compose of soft materials such as silicone rubber and liquid metal, stiff components such as electrical elements and wires are also embedded. The stiff embedded components reduce flexibility and durability. In this research, we develop a soft capacitive tactile sensor using the movement of interface between encapsulated air and water in a silicone rubber body. A force applied to the tactile sensor causes a change in the position of the interface. Displacement of the interface changes the capacitance of the sensor. The structure does not require an ohmic connection between a contact and a detection part and improves durability.