A highly sensitive multimodal capacitive tactile sensor

As technology develops, manufacture process becomes more and more automated using robots. There is demand for high performance tactile sensor which can support robotic grippers in manipulation tasks especially for unstructured flexible objects. Despite the efforts that have been spent, the fabrication process of those functional sensor remains complicated due to their requirement of specialized materials and equipment. The proposed multimodal sensor overcomes the difficulty by enhancing the electrical and mechanical design therefore simplifying the manufacture steps. In this version, static and dynamic sensing are integrated in the same layer of capacitive sensor with direct written microstructured dielectric. This structure allows it to have large range of force sensing as well as the ability of detecting contact events such as slippage or losing of contact.