Investigation on voltage response and application of flexible tactile sensors based on multiple cooperative structures

Abstract

Recently, flexible tactile sensors (FTSs) have gained great attention for their application prospects in human–machine interfaces and robots. However, there is a lack of effective and practical approaches to study the response and guide the design of FTSs. Establishing a valid analytical model and revealing the effect mechanism remain challengeable at present. Herein, an analytical model of an FTS based on multiple cooperative structures (FTS-MCS) is developed. The model is validated with numerical and experimental results. The relative error between the analytical and experimental results for the compression and recovery are 9.3% and 3.8%, respectively. The effect of structure parameters, including helix coil and permanent magnet, is investigated based on the analytical model. The results show that the voltage of FTS-MCS can be improved by tuning the turn, diameter, and shape of coils and the remanent flux density and dimensions of the permanent magnet. The maximum voltage is improved by 49.8% as the turn of coils grows four. The effect of the load conditions of the compression deformation and compression speed is also revealed. Then, a sensitivity analysis is performed to quantitatively analyze the effect of different parameters. Results show the diameter of coils and the compression deformation have the greatest effect on the voltage of FTS-MCS. Due to the flexibility, adaptability, and tactility, such FTS-MCS are mounted on a double-fingered claw to endow the claw with self-perception capacity. Consequently, our study gives a comprehensive understanding of such FTS-MCS and is conducive to promoting the application of FTS-MCS.