A Solid-Liquid Composite Flexible Bionic Three-Axis Tactile Sensor for Dexterous Hands

The sense of touch is fundamental to grasping and manipulating objects. Similarly, the interaction between the robot and the outside world also requires tactile sensors to provide tactile information to ensure that when grasping fragile objects, the object will not be broken because the grasping force is too large, and the object will not slip because the grasping force is too small. The existing tactile sensors still have problems such as complex structure, high production cost, and difficult to integrate into the hands of robots. In this letter, a new modular solid-liquid composite flexible bionic tactile sensor is proposed for the structure and tactile sensing mechanism of bionic human fingertip skin. The proposed tactile sensor can measure three-dimensional forces, most parts can be three-dimensional printed, easy to manufacture, low production cost, and modular design for easy integration into the robot hand. The prototype was calibrated and tested, and it was integrated on the gripper to help grasp objects. The experimental results show that the sensor has a wide measuring range and can detect 15 N normal force and ±6 N tangential force, with good repeatability and small hysteresis error. Integrated into the robot hand can further enhance the tactile perception ability.