This paper presents a novel method to fabricate temperature sensor arrays by dispensing a graphite-polydimethylsiloxane composite on flexible polyimide films. The fabricated temperature sensor array has 64 sensing cells in a 4 × 4 cm2 area. The sensor array can be used as humanoid artificial skin for sensation system of robots. Interdigitated copper electrodes were patterned on the flexible polyimide substrate for determining the resistivity change of the composites subjected to ambient temperature variations. Polydimethylsiloxane was used as the matrix. Composites of different graphite volume fractions for large dynamic range from 30 °C to 110 °C have been investigated. Our experiments showed that graphite powder provided the composite high temperature sensitivity. The fabricated temperature sensor array has been tested. The detected temperature contours are in good agreement with the shapes and magnitudes of different heat sources.

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In this work, we present the development of a polymer-based capacitive sensing array. The proposed device is capable of measuring normal and shear forces, and can be easily realized by using micromachining techniques and flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) technologies. The sensing array consists of a polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) structure and a FPCB. Each shear sensing element comprises four capacitive sensing cells arranged in a 2 × 2 array, and each capacitive sensing cell has two sensing electrodes and a common floating electrode. The sensing electrodes as well as the metal interconnect for signal scanning are implemented on the FPCB, while the floating electrodes are patterned on the PDMS structure. This design can effectively reduce the complexity of the capacitive structures, and thus makes the device highly manufacturable. The characteristics of the devices with different dimensions were measured and discussed. A scanning circuit was also designed and implemented. The measured maximum sensitivity is 1.67%/mN. The minimum resolvable force is 26 mN measured by the scanning circuit. The capacitance distributions induced by normal and shear forces were also successfully captured by the sensing array.

In this work, we present the development of a capacitive tactile sensing array realized by using MEMS fabrication techniques and flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) technologies. The sensing array, which consists of two micromachined polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) structures and a FPCB, will be used as the artificial skin for robot applications. Each capacitive sensing element comprises two sensing electrodes and a common floating electrode. The sensing electrodes and the metal interconnect for signal scanning are implemented on the FPCB, while the floating electrode is patterned on one of the PDMS structures. This special design can effectively reduce the complexity of the device structure and thus makes the device highly manufacturable. The characteristics of the devices with different dimensions are measured and discussed. The corresponding scanning circuits are also designed and implemented. The tactile images induced by the PMMA stamps of different shapes are also successfully captured by a fabricated 8 × 8 array.

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