3차원 마이크로채널이 내장된 대변형 탄성중합체를 이용한 3축 소프트 로드셀

Abstract

The advances in soft robotics have increased the need of soft sensors in various applications involved with physical interactions between humans and robots. In this paper, we propose a soft multi-axis force sensor made of multi-material elastomer layers and embedded microfluidic channels that are sensitive to compression perpendicular to the channels length. The microchannels are geometrically divided into multiple segments for detecting forces in three axes. When a force is applied to the top surface of the sensor, the microchannels are compressed by multi-segmented force plates made of rigid plastic. While the microchannels located on the sides in the structure detect shear forces, the microchannel at the bottom detects normal force. The three-dimensional configuration of the microchannel physically separates the side channels from the bottom channel and consequently enables mechanical decoupling of shear forces from normal force. This paper describes the design and fabrication of the proposed sensor and discusses the experimental results for sensor characterization.