Flexible tactile sensors for measuring contact surface normal force using inductive coupling
AssigneeToyota Research Institute, Inc.
InventorsAndrew M. Beaulieu, Kristopher Lopez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flexible tactile sensor includes a conductive target positioned in a first plane, at least three coils forming an array within a second plane, the second plane spaced apart from the first plane, a pliable material coupling the conductive target to the at least three coils, and an electronic device electrically coupled to each of the at least three coils, the electronic device configured to induce an AC signal within each of the at least three coils and measure a change in inductance in the at least three coils in response to movement of the conductive target.
Claims20
A flexible tactile sensor, comprising:
- a non-ferrous conductive target positioned in a first plane;
- at least three coils forming an array within a second plane, the second plane spaced apart from the first plane;
- a pliable material coupling the non-ferrous conductive target to the at least three coils;
- and
- an electronic device electrically coupled to each of the at least three coils, the electronic device configured to induce an AC signal within each of the at least three coils and measure a change in inductance in the at least three coils in response to movement of the non-ferrous conductive target.
A system, comprising
- a computing device communicatively coupled to one or more flexible tactile sensors;
- and
- a flexible tactile sensor comprising:
- a non-ferrous conductive target positioned in a first plane;
- at least three coils forming an array within a second plane, the second plane spaced apart from the first plane;
- a pliable material coupling the non-ferrous conductive target to the at least three coils;
- and
- an electronic device electrically coupled to each of the at least three coils, the electronic device configured to induce an AC signal within each of the at least three coils and measure a change in inductance in the at least three coils in response to movement of the non-ferrous conductive target, wherein the computing device is configured to:
- receive one or more signals from the electronic device of at least one of the one or more flexible tactile sensors, the one or more signals corresponding to the measured changes in the inductance in the at least three coils, and
- determine a magnitude and direction of a normal force of the non-ferrous conductive target.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.