Tactile Sensor Elements Based on Commercial Components: An Experimental Comparison

Despite notable advancements in tactile sensing, the lack of comparability between prototypes continues to hinder the development of versatile, accessible, and multimodal sensing systems that utilize sensor fusion to replicate the capabilities of human skin. To address this, we evaluated nine sensor prototypes based on commercially available components utilizing four transduction principles—barometric, resistive, magnetic, and piezoelectric—through an accessible robot-driven test setup replicating diverse loading conditions critical for robotic grasping. Barometric sensors achieved the highest accuracy ( $\leq $ 2.4% of range) during linear loading, while magnetic sensors outperformed across all scenarios, including sliding experiments with response times ( $\approx $ 50 ms) exceeding those of the piezoelectric sensor. The 3-D-printed piezoresistive sensors enabled qualitative contact detection but were less effective for precise force measurements due to relaxation in quasi-static cases. These reproducible findings highlight the strengths of each sensor realization, providing valuable insights for future applications and sensor fusion strategies.