伸縮性容量・抵抗型ひずみセンサ: 直接インク書き込みによる簡便な製造
Stretchable Capacitive and Resistive Strain Sensors: Accessible Manufacturing Using Direct Ink Writing
商用3Dプリンタに自作プリントヘッドを組み合わせ、シリコーン基板上に導電インクを直接描画することで、容量型・抵抗型の伸縮性ひずみセンサを柔軟に作製する手法を提案した。
著者: Lukas Cha, Sonja Groß, Shuai Mao, Tim Braun, Sami Haddadin, Liang He
分類: cs.RO
原文アブストラクト
As robotics advances toward integrating soft structures, anthropomorphic shapes, and complex tasks, soft and highly stretchable mechanotransducers are becoming essential. To reliably measure tactile and proprioceptive data while ensuring shape conformability, stretchability, and adaptability, researchers have explored diverse transduction principles alongside scalable and versatile manufacturing techniques. Nonetheless, many current methods for stretchable sensors are designed to produce a single sensor configuration, thereby limiting design flexibility. Here, we present an accessible, flexible, printing-based fabrication approach for customizable, stretchable sensors. Our method employs a custom-built printhead integrated with a commercial 3D printer to enable direct ink writing (DIW) of conductive ink onto cured silicone substrates. A layer-wise fabrication process, facilitated by stackable trays, allows for the deposition of multiple liquid conductive ink layers within a silicone matrix. To demonstrate the method's capacity for high design flexibility, we fabricate and evaluate both capacitive and resistive strain sensor morphologies. Experimental characterization showed that the capacitive strain sensor possesses high linearity (R^2 = 0.99), high sensitivity near the 1.0 theoretical limit (GF = 0.95), minimal hysteresis (DH = 1.36%), and large stretchability (550%), comparable to state-of-the-art stretchable strain sensors reported in the literature.
