Electrode for Force Sensor of Conductive Rubber

Masato Ohmukai, Yasushi Kami, Ryosuke Matsuura

Department of Applied Analysis and Complex Dynamical Systems, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Akashi College of Technology, Hyogo, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/jst.2012.23018                

Abstract

Tactile sensors are believed to be a key element in order to realize robotic fingers to catch a fragile object without damage. Force sensitive conductive rubber is a low-cost material and then attractive for the application to tactile sensors. We have studied the effect of electrodes attached to the rubber sheets. We have tried four kinds of electrodes: vacuum deposited Al, adhesive Cu tape, Al thin film sheet and silver paste. It can be concluded that vacuum deposited Al has the highest potential from the practical point of view; it has the widest dynamic range and good precision at the same time.

Keywords

Conductive Rubber; Force Sensor; Robot Finger; Electrode; Vacuum Deposition

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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