What is Tactile Sensor?

In general, tactile sensors are used to sense the contact of fingertips of a robot with an object. They are also used in manufacturing of ‘touch display’ screens of visual display units (VDUs) of CNC machine tools.

Tactile Sensor

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Figure shows the construction of piezo-electric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) based tactile sensor. It has two PVDF layers separated by a soft film which transmits the vibrations.

An alternating current is applied to lower PVDF layer which generates vibrations due to reverse piezoelectric effect. These vibrations are transmitted to the upper PVDF layer via soft film. These vibrations cause alternating voltage across the upper PVDF layer.

When some pressure is applied on the upper PVDF layer the vibrations gets affected and the output voltage changes. This triggers a switch or an action in robots or touch displays.

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