Experimental Characterization of a Flexible Thermal Slip Sensor.docVIP

Sensors 2012, 12, 15267-15280; doi:10.3390/s121115267 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Experimental Characterization of a Flexible Thermal Slip Sensor Maria Teresa Francomano *, Dino Accoto and Eugenio Guglielmelli Laboratory of Biomedical Robotics and Biomicrosystems, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, Roma 00128, Italy; E-Mails: d.accoto@unicampus.it (D.A.); e.guglielmelli@unicampus.it (E.G.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: m.francomano@unicampus.it; Tel.: +39-06-225-41-9610; Fax: +39-06-225-41-9609. Received: 8 October 2012; in revised form: 2 November 2012 / Accepted: 5 November 2012 / Published: 8 November 2012 Abstract: Tactile sensors are needed for effectively controlling the interaction between a robotic hand and the environment, e.g., during manipulation of objects, or for the tactile exploration of unstructured environments, especially when other sensing modalities, such as vision or audition, become ineffective. In the case of hand prostheses, mainly intended for dexterous manipulation of daily living objects, the possibility of quickly detecting slip occurrence, thus avoiding inadvertent falling of the objects, is prodromal to any manipulation task. In this paper we report on a slip sensor with no-moving parts, based on thermo-electrical phenomena, fabricated on a flexible substrate and suitable for integration on curved surfaces, such as robotic finger pads. Experiments performed using a custom made test bench, which is capable of generating controlled slip velocities, show that the sensor detects slip events in less than 50 ms. This response time is short enough for enabling future applications in the field of hand prosthetics. Keywords: slip detection; flexible sensors; tactile sensors 1. Introduction Current efforts in the field of robotic upper limb prosthetics are focused on the