Development of a Tactile and Slip Sensor with a Biomimetic Structure-enhanced Sensing Mechanism

作者:Jiang, Yonggang; Ma, Zhiqiang; Cao, Bonan; Gong, Longlong; Feng, Lin*; Zhang, Deyuan
来源:Journal of Bionics Engineering, 2019, 16(1): 47-55.
DOI:10.1007/s42235-019-0005-8

摘要

Tactile and slip sensors have gained tremendous attention for their promising applications in the fields of smart robotics, implantable medical devices and minimally invasive surgery. Inspired by the structure-enhanced sensing mechanisms of human fingertips and tree frog toes, we developed a tactile and slip sensor by combining biomimetic surface microstructures with highly sensitive P(VDF-TrFE) nanofiber sensors on a flexible polyimide substrate. As the surface microstructures could mediate the micro-vibration induced by slip motion, the frequencies of output signals revealed a strong correlation with the periods of microstructures. In addition, we proposed a method to discriminate touch force from slip motion using the criterion of standard deviation of time delay from the output signals of neighboring sensor elements.