Robot skin apparatus, method of fabricating a robot skin apparatus, and a system including a robot skin apparatus

A system comprising:

• a pair of gripper fingers defining a space for receiving a workpiece;
• a pneumatic actuator connected to the gripper fingers for causing the gripper fingers to open or close, the pneumatic actuator having an input for receiving a pressurized fluid
• a pressure regulator having a fluid input in fluid communication with a pressurized fluid source, an output in fluid communication with the pneumatic actuator, and a control signal input for controlling a flow of the pressurized fluid source to the output;
• a robot skin apparatus positioned on one of the gripper fingers facing the other of the gripper fingers and the space for receiving the workpiece, the robot skin apparatus comprising:
• a first pressure sensor comprising a first electrode and a second electrode in a spaced relationship that are symmetrically patterned on a first flexible substrate to form a substantially circular peripheral boundary that exhibits a symmetric omni-axial response due to the geometry of the first electrode and the second electrode;
• and
• polymer membranes encapsulating the first pressure sensor, the polymer membranes acting as applied force diffusion layers;
• and
• a main electronic unit comprising:
• a microcontroller;
• an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) having an input in communication with the first pressure sensor and an output in communication with the microcontroller;
• and
• an output device in communication with the microcontroller and the control signal input of the pressure regulator;
• the microcontroller for processing data received from the robot skin apparatus via the ADC and determining control effort for controlling the pressure regulator via the output device.