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Edward Sabolsky
Multi-functional and Energy Ceramics Group
Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
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Wearable-flexible tactile sensors for robotic application

Flexible Tactile Sensors

Conventional tactile sensors are fabricated on rigid substrates, limiting their application to non-planar geometries such as traditional capacitive touch screen displays. The objective of this work is to develop and characterize a flexible tactile sensor which is precise and easy to implement in wearable, flexible electronics. To overcome this challenge, a flexible polymer substrate is utilized, after which the active sensing materials are deposited. Current work invokes the parallel-plate capacitance relationship, where laminar layers of an elastomer and amorphous ceramic Hafnium Oxide are deposited between two electrodes deposited on the flexible polymer substrate. This work is also focused on developing a sensor material system which can withstand a relatively harsh environment and function across a wide range of forces (0 to 50lbf), temperatures (-120 to 400°C), and pressures as severe as 10 -10 Torr. Following the development of the materials system, the work is aimed at embedding this technology in-situ as part of a 3D printed assembly. More information on this work can be found in the article linked below.

Flexible polymer-ceramic sensor
Figure 1. Flexible polymer-ceramic sensor array shown in a flexed state to demonstrate the robustness of this material system.
Thermomechanical load cycling of three sensor architectures (baseline, bilayer, and trilayer)
Figure 2. Thermomechanical load cycling of three sensor architectures (baseline, bilayer, and trilayer) at -60, 30, and 120°C. Change in capacitance shown as a function of time for each architecture as the cyclic force is applied.