Modeling of a 3D force flexible tactile sensor and its structural optimization

This paper demonstrates a flexible tactile sensor for detections of both normal and shear forces. The tactile sensor is made as 20cm × 20cm × 5cm sensor array. Conductive rubber filled by carbon black is used to be the sensing material, as its effective piezoresistive, flexible and low-cost properties. Because of the sensor's integral-array structure and conductive rubber's complex material characters, the output signals of the sensor are difficult to decouple as they are strongly coupled. To solve the coupling problem and improve the sensor's performance, contact mechanics theory and franklinic analogue method are introduced to obtain the sensor's mathematics model, and propose a relative weight-coefficient-based simplification method. Simulations are taken to obtain the input-output characteristic: normal force in the range of 0-10N is applied on the sensor, and then 3D force with fixed-size normal force and one changing shear force in the range of -10-10N is applied on the sensor. Based on the simulation results, the sensor structure is optimized to improved the linearity of the sensor. The results demonstrate that the sensor can be effectively used in 3D force measurement.

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