An Electromagnetic Tactile Sensor for Three-Axis Force Sensing and Its Characteristics (Development of a Small Tactile Sensor for Robot Fingers)

Abstract

This paper presents a tactile sensor based on electromagnetic induction method. The proposed sensor has simple mechanical structure and its signal circuit is simple. Because of this structure, this sensor can be realized as a small size and can be integrated in small space like robot fingers. In this sensor, an flat elastic material is inserted between a primary excitation coil board and a secondary induction coil board. By measuring output voltage of secondary induction coils, it is possible to estimate displacement of the elastic material and three-axis forces. Numerical simulation of integral element method and experimental results clarify the characteristics of the proposed sensor. Experimental results show that three dimensional forces can be measured using the proposed electromagnetic tactile sensor.