A net-structure tactile sensor covering freeform surface with reduced wiring

A tactile sensor is developed with the aim of covering a robot’s entire structure, while reducing wiring requirement and ensuring high-speed response. There are only 4 signal wires from the sensor. The sensor response time is nearly constant (within 1ms) regardless of the number of detection elements, their placements or sensor areas. In this paper, the principles behind the operation of this sensor and the results of experiments using the sensor are described.