Soft Inductive Tactile Sensor Using Flow-Channel Enclosing Liquid Metal
Soft Inductive Tactile Sensor Using Flow-Channel Enclosing Liquid Metal
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DOI：
10.1109/lra.2020.2985573
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发表时间：
2020-04
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
Shota Hamaguchi;Takumi Kawasetsu;Takato Horii;H. Ishihara;Ryuma Niiyama;K. Hosoda;M. Asada
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Shota Hamaguchi;Takumi Kawasetsu;Takato Horii;H. Ishihara;Ryuma Niiyama;K. Hosoda;M. Asada
在增加传统软触觉传感器的柔软度方面存在结构挑战，因为必须在感测区域周围安装刚性电气元件，这些刚性电气元件应该是可压缩的、可拉伸的和耐用的。为了解决这些问题，我们提出了一种电感式触觉传感器，其硅橡胶主体只有两个由细长的流动通道连接的液体金属储存器。当一个储液器放置在感测区域周围时，另一个储液器可以放置在非感测区域处。此外，在该结构中，可以通过使用基于涡电流效应的单独放置的线圈电路来监测液体金属在后一个储存器中的流入和流出来检测触摸。所提出的方法不需要与储存器或流动通道中的液体金属直接电连接。这意味着传感器主体不具有降低其可压缩性和可拉伸性并使其耐久性劣化的抑制剂。实验结果表明，较大的储液器直径提供较大的灵敏度和约65 dB的较高信噪比。此外，我们观察到身体的弯曲不会像重力那样影响传感器响应。因此，我们的结论是，我们的传感器具有结构优势，用于双传感器安装，特别是在软致动器，因为我们的完全软传感器不会因其柔软性而降低或恶化其功能。
There are structural challenges in increasing the softness of conventional soft tactile sensors because rigid electrical elements have to be installed around the sensing areas, which should be compressive, stretchable, and durable. To solve these issues, we propose an inductive tactile sensor whose silicone-rubber body has only two liquid-metal reservoirs connected by an elongated flow channel. When one reservoir is placed around the sensing area, another one can be placed at a non-sensing area. Furthermore, in this structure, touch can be detected by monitoring the inflow and outflow of the liquid-metal in the latter reservoir by using a separately placed coil circuit based on the eddy-current effect. The proposed method requires no direct electrical connections with liquid metal in the reservoirs or flow channels. This means that the sensor body has no inhibitor that reduces its compressibility and stretchability, and that deteriorates its durability. The experimental results demonstrated that larger reservoir diameters provided larger sensitivity and higher signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 65 dB. Additionally, we observed that the bending of the body does not affect the sensor response as much as gravity. Therefore, we conclude that our sensor has structural advantages for tactile-sensor installation, especially in soft actuators, because our completely soft sensor does not experience reduction or deterioration in its functionality owing to its softness.