Development of strain sensors based on conductive paste for soft actuators

- Investigation of basic properties of conductive paste and development of measurement equipment-

Abstract

Currently, soft actuators are being actively researched. Genellary, soft actuators are more difficult to control than ordinary actuators because of their flexibility. Therefore, there is a need for a sensor that can be unified with the soft actuator and measure the change in shape of large deformations without interfering with the deformation of the soft actuator. In this study, we propose a strain sensor that can measure the displacement of a soft actuator based on a conductive paste with silver as a filler. This paper describes the investigation of the basic properties of conductive pastes using silver filler and the measurement equipment.