Simultaneous Measurement of Surface Texture and Elasticity Using Tactile Sensor with Differently Protruded Contactor Array

摘要

In this study, a novel design of array type tactile sensor with differently protruded contactors and a new detection principle were developed for simultaneous measurement of high-resolution surface texture and the elasticity (or softness) of the touching object. Six bi-axial detectors for micro surface roughness and local slip friction are integrated with different protrusion lengths of three levels from the chip edge of sensor. Since indentation depth of the three contactor pairs depends on softness of object, it is possible to calculate the elasticity of the object only by one-time sweeping using the relative relationship between indentation depth. Also, the principle of this sensor cancel out the effect of contact angle to the target surface. In the experiments, surface shape and slip friction of the samples having elasticity from 0.57 to 2.6MPa were successfully measured, and simultaneous measurement of their elasticities has been demonstrated for the first time.