Functionalized textiles for interactive soft robotics

We use a conductive fabric substrate as a building material for a soft sensor to extend the functionality of soft actuators. We use PCB etching techniques to apply a pattern to the fabric, yielding distinct conductive surfaces within the same textile. We connect these via flexible wire bus embedded in silicone, terminating in a flexible PCB. We show how touch and metal objects can be localized along the length of the composite fabric strip. We demonstrate an example soft robotic application, by replacing the constraint layer component in a PneuFlex-style soft actuator with the self contained sensing strip. We show that the augmented composite actuator is able to interact with conductive objects in the environment using a capacitive touch sensing with applications in grasping and human-robot interaction.

Authors

• Nicholas Farrow
• Lauren McIntire
• Nikolaus Correll

Keywords

• Fabrics
• Robot sensing systems
• Wires
• Strips
• Actuators
• Capacitance
• Soft Robots
• Etching
• Flexible Electronics
• Human-robot Interaction
• Metal Objects
• Soft Actuators
• Soft Sensor
• Soft Robotic Applications
• Analog-to-digital Converter
• Measure Of Capacity
• Circuit Board
• Laser Cutting
• Capacitance Of Electrode
• Capacitive Sensor
• Copper Plate
• Highest Capacity
• Polyester Fibers
• Etching Solution
• Touch Sensor
• Strip Length
• Masking Tape