Structure and fundamental evaluation of magnetic type tactile sensor

Abstract

We propose a magnetic type tactile sensor that can measure a three-axis displacement and a three-axis force. The simple structure comprises two layers, an elastic layer and a substrate layer. The elastic layer is made of an elastic material and houses a cylindrical permanent magnet inside. The substrate layer is a glass epoxy board and has four giant magneto resistance(GMR) elements. The elements measure changes of magnetic field strength based on the displacement of the magnet, and the three-axis displacement and force are calculated from the outputs of the elements. Features of this sensor are a wiring reduction, simple structure, and low cost. In this paper, we describe a structure of the sensor. We design a sensor which has two magnets inside, and confirm the performances of a prototype through the laboratory experiments.