Polyimide-based Tactile Sensor Module by Polymer Micromachining Technology

폴리머 마이크로머시닝 기술에 의한 폴리이미드 촉각 센서 모듈

A flexible tactile sensor module based on polyimide matrix integrated with sensing elements and pluggable terminals connector was fabricated by polymer micromachining technology for robotic applications. The tactile sensor arrays are composed of $4{\times}4$, $8{\times}8$ and $16{\times}16$ sensing elements connected with pluggable terminals connector, respectively. Especially, both the tactile sensor array and the pluggable terminals are formed in the sensor module during the fabrication process. The fabricated tactile sensor module is measured continuously in the normal force range of $0{\sim}1N$ with tactile sensor auto-evaluation system. The value of resistance is relatively increased linearly with normal force in the overall range. The variation rate of resistance is about 2.0%/N in the range of $0{\sim}0.6N$ and 1.5%/N in the range of $0.6{\sim}1N$. Also, the flexibility of the sensing module is adequate to be placed on any curved surface as cylinder because the matrix consists of polymer and metal thin film.