Fully-organic flexible tactile sensor for advanced robotic applications

In this work we investigate the electromechanical behavior of a flexible piezoelectric sensor, based on Polyvinylidene-fluoride-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) capacitor fabricated on ultra-thin polyimide film (5 μm thick). The piezocapacitor has been integrated with a high mobility p-channel organic thin film transistor, made on polyethylene naphthalate (PEN, 125 μm thick), by adopting a multi-foil approach. An extensive study of the effects of the electrical and mechanical stress on the device components has been reported in order to evaluate the sensor's reliability in a real environment. Then the sensor was tested, at different working frequencies and applied forces with the intent of mimicking the human sense of touch. We believe that this device can represent a key element for a high performing electronic skin system to be deployed on humanoid robot.