Inductive and capacitive tactile sensors
AssigneeAnalog Devices, Inc.
InventorsBaoxing Chen, Deepak Kumar, Qian Zhang, Ruida Yun
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides inductive and capacitive tactile sensors. In one aspect, a tactile sensor cell includes a flexible layer, a first coil arranged on a first side of the flexible layer, and a second coil arranged on a second side of the flexible layer. A force applied to the tactile sensor cell is configured to change inductive coupling between the first coil and the second coil. Other aspects relate to determining a plurality of directional components of force applied to a pillar of a tactile sensor and/or capacitive tactile sensors.
Claims20
A tactile sensor, comprising:
- an array of tactile sensor cells;
- a plurality of pillars, a first pillar of the plurality of pillars overlapping a tactile sensor cell of the tactile sensor cells of the array;
- and
- a detection circuit configured to determine a plurality of directional components of a force applied to the first pillar based on output of the tactile sensor cell.
A tactile sensor cell, comprising:
- a flexible layer;
- a first coil arranged on a first side of the flexible layer;
- and
- a second coil arranged on a second side of the flexible layer, the second side being opposite to the first side,
- wherein a force applied to the tactile sensor cell is configured to change inductive coupling between the first coil and the second coil.
A method of tactile sensing, comprising:
- providing a tactile sensor cell comprising a flexible layer, a first coil, and a second coil on an opposite side of the flexible layer than the first coil;
- and
- detecting force applied to the tactile sensor cell based on a change in inductive coupling between the first coil and the second coil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.