Abstract
Abstract. Flexible tactile pressure sensor arrays based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are gaining importance, especially in the field of robotics because of the high demand for stable, flexible and sensitive sensors. Some existing concepts of pressure sensors based on nanocomposites exhibit complicated fabrication techniques and better sensitivity than the conventional pressure sensors. In this article, we propose a nanocomposite-based pressure sensor that exhibits a high sensitivity of 25 % N−1, starting with a minimum load range of 0–0.01 N and 46.8 % N−1 in the range of 0–1 N. The maximum pressure sensing range of the sensor is approximately 570 kPa. A concept of a 4×3 tactile sensor array, which could be integrated to robot fingers, is demonstrated. The high sensitivity of the pressure sensor enables precision grasping, with the ability to sense small objects with a size of 5 mm and a weight of 1 g. Another application of the pressure sensor is demonstrated as a gait analysis for humanoid robots. The pressure sensor is integrated under the foot of a humanoid robot to monitor and evaluate the gait of the robot, which provides insights for optimizing the robot's self-balancing algorithm in order to maintain the posture while walking.
Highlights
In the field of robotics, the type of pressure sensor plays a vital role in the work efficiency and performance
Flexible tactile pressure sensor arrays based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are gaining importance, especially in the field of robotics because of the high demand for stable, flexible and sensitive sensors
We propose a nanocomposite-based pressure sensor that exhibits a high sensitivity of 25 % N−1, starting with a minimum load range of 0–0.01 N and 46.8 % N−1 in the range of 0–1 N
Summary
In the field of robotics, the type of pressure sensor plays a vital role in the work efficiency and performance. The lack of high performance in a pressure or force sensor is a major obstacle. Commercial pressure sensors like Flexiforce are becoming popular and are predominately used in robotics because of their low cost and simple operating principle (Nag et al, 2018). Most pressure sensors are only capable of operating at high-pressure ranges. More research is being carried out in the development of sensors for low-pressure ranges (Zhang et al, 2018), as they are crucial for precision grasping. The key parameters of sensors in the field of robotics include mechanical flexibility, miniaturization, operation voltage, sensitivity, response time and accuracy (Nela et al, 2018)
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