Capacitive tactile sensor for quadrupled spatial resolution

Abstract

Unlike conventional arrangement of capacitors on the xy-plane in tactile sensors, this work stacked two capacitors in the z-direction with a shared electrode. This novel arrangement reduced the required projective area of the capacitors from four to one, quadrupled the spatial resolution of the tactile sensor without losing its functionality and sensitivity. Theoretical design, numerical simulation, fabrication, and analysis were thoroughly conducted in this work. The proposed capacitive tactile sensor and its results prevailed conventional planar ones not only in structure and fabrication simplicity but also in alleviation of angle detection error.