Development of a Tactile and Slip Sensor with a Biomimetic Structure-enhanced Sensing Mechanism

Tactile and slip sensors have gained tremendous attention for their promising applications in the fields of smart robotics, implantable medical devices and minimally invasive surgery. Inspired by the structure-enhanced sensing mechanisms of human fingertips and tree frog toes, we developed a tactile and slip sensor by combining biomimetic surface microstructures with highly sensitive P(VDF-TrFE) nanofiber sensors on a flexible polyimide substrate. As the surface microstructures could mediate the micro-vibration induced by slip motion, the frequencies of output signals revealed a strong correlation with the periods of microstructures. In addition, we proposed a method to discriminate touch force from slip motion using the criterion of standard deviation of time delay from the output signals of neighboring sensor elements.