| Abstract: | Continuous scanning of variable contact forces occurring during object exploration and manipulation by means of miniature sensors is becoming increasingly important in medical prosthetics and orthotics, advanced robotics, teleoperation and telepresence. In this paper a system able to provide robots with tactile sensitivity is presented. Skin-like tactile sensor arrays, which are selectively sensitive to stress-tensor components and are based on piezoelectric polymer technology, have been implemented. The basic characteristics of the sensors, together with the mechanical devices and the electronics developed for setting up the artificial tactile system, are described. An investigation of the expected responses of the sensor has been carried out by modelling the mechanics of object-sensor interaction and by finding the stress solutions of a forward elastic contact problem. The system has been tested by comparing the theoretical results with data measured experimentally from the sensor. |
