A Torque-Sensitive Tactile Array for Robotics

We introduce a new tactile sensor and show its advantages for robotic applications. The tactile array elements are composed of magnetic dipoles (in an elastic medium) whose position and orientation are detected by magnetoresistive sensors. We show that, unlike the existing tactile sensor designs, this device is sensitive to torque as well as to normal and tangential forces. We demonstrate experimentally the fabrication, sensitivity, and repeatability of the tactile elements.