A Flexible Multi-Functional Smart Skin for Force, Touch Position, Proximity, and Humidity Sensing for Humanoid Robots
Yanning Dai, Shuo Gao
Abstract
Artificial smart skins capable of interacting with people and sensing environmental stimuli have become a research topic in humanoid robotic applications. However, previously reported architectures suffer difficulties in achieving concurrent multi-dimensional sensing in a simple structure with low system costs. To address this issue, in this paper, an artificial smart skin constructed with polyimide/copper/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is presented for detecting 2D-position, proximity, dynamic force, and humidity via a smart combination of piezoelectric- and capacitive-effects. Moreover, a follow-up filtering algorithm is proposed to separate and calculate the stimuli associated with capacitance changes (position, proximity, and humidity). The proposed system achieves overall force and capacitive sensitivities of 0.05 N and 7 fF, a humidity responsivity at 0.22%/RH% over a relative humidity range of 10%–90% RH, a spatial resolution of 0.29 mm. This simple-structured device supports multiple functions with low system costs, thus advancing the field of robotics smart skins.