Carbon Nanotube Polymer based Flexible Tactile Pressure Sensors for Robotic Applications

Flexible, tactile pressure sensor arrays based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are gaining importance, especially in the field of robotics because of the demand for stable, flexible and sensitive sensors. Some existing concepts of pressure sensing arrays [1-4] exhibit complicated fabrication techniques like in-situ polymerization, ball milling, etc., and reach a good sensitivity of 35.9%/N for a typical load range of 0 - 1 N [1]. We propose a sensor array exhibiting a high sensitivity of 25%/N beginning with a minimum load range of 0 - 0.01 N and 46.8%/N in the range of 0 - 1 N. The sensor fabrication is cost-effective and is carried out with simple mold casting technique.