Large area smart tactile sensor for rescue robot

This paper shows the design of a tactile sensor intended to cover the forearm of the rescue robot ALACRAN. This robot is able to lift hundreds of kilograms so it has to be carefully designed because it will manipulate human beings that can be hurt. So it has to be aware of being in contact with a human being and how he or she is pressed. Not just a binary output is required because contact is often necessary, for instance when a human is held in the arms of the robot. For this sort of operations a kind of artificial skin must provide information about the contact between the robot and the human. This skin will cover the hands to carry out fine manipulation, but it will also cover large areas like forearms. Some devices have been proposed to face such demand. This paper presents one of these sensors that has been obtained by arranging commercial force sensing resistors. Design issues related to this approach and results are presented.