School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Department of Engineering, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UK.
Sensors (Basel). 2021 Mar 11;21(6):1970. doi: 10.3390/s21061970.
Soft sensors are essential for robotic systems to safely interact with humans and the environment. Although significant research has been carried out in the field of soft tactile sensing, most of these sensors are restricted to a predefined geometry and a fixed measurement range, hence limiting their application. This paper introduces a novel approach to soft sensing by proposing a soft load-sensing unit with an adjustable mechanical compliance achieved using an elastically inflatable fluidic dome. The sensor consists of a three-dimensional Hall-effect sensor, above which is a magnet whose movement is modulated by an intermediate elastomeric dome structure. Sensor configurations were designed and fabricated using three different silicone rubbers to cover '00-10' and '20A' durometer shore hardness scales. We demonstrated that the compliance of the sensor could be dynamically tuned by changing the internal pressure of the inflatable fluidic dome in all configurations. We performed finite element simulations to determine the reaction force of the sensor under load as well as the stresses within the internal structural behavior, which are not possible to capture experimentally. The proposed soft sensor has the potential to be readily adapted for use in various soft robotic applications of differing size, compliance range, and safety requirements.
软传感器对于机器人系统与人类和环境安全交互至关重要。尽管在软触觉传感领域已经开展了大量研究，但大多数传感器都限于预定的几何形状和固定的测量范围，因此限制了它们的应用。本文提出了一种软传感的新方法，提出了一种软负载感应单元，该单元采用弹性可充气流体制成，具有可调节的机械顺应性。该传感器由一个三维霍尔效应传感器组成，其上方是一个磁铁，其运动由一个中间弹性圆顶结构调制。使用三种不同的硅橡胶设计和制造了传感器配置，以覆盖“00-10”和“20A”肖氏硬度计。我们证明，在所有配置中，通过改变可充气流体制动器的内部压力，可以动态调节传感器的顺应性。我们进行了有限元模拟，以确定在负载下传感器的反作用力以及内部结构行为内的应力，这些在实验中是无法捕捉到的。所提出的软传感器具有适应不同尺寸、顺应性范围和安全要求的各种软机器人应用的潜力。
