• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.149-156
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• 2014

Flexible tactile sensors can provide valuable feedback to intelligent robots about the environment. This is especially important when the robots, e.g., service robots, are sharing the workspace with human. This paper presents a flexible tactile sensor that was manufactured by direct writing technique, which is one of 3D printing method with multi-walled carbon nano-tubes. The signal processing system consists of two parts: analog circuits to amplify and filter the sensor output and digital signal processing algorithms to reduce undesired noise. Finally, experimental setup is implemented and evaluated to identify the characteristics of the flexible tactile sensor system. This paper showed that this type of sensors can detect the initiation and termination of contacts with appropriate signal processing.

• Nano
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• 제13권11호
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• pp.1850126.1-1850126.10
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• 2018

Flexible strain sensors, as the core member of the family of smart electronic devices, along with reasonable sensing range and sensitivity plus low cost, have rose a huge consumer market and also immense interests in fundamental studies and technological applications, especially in the field of biomimetic robots movement detection and human health condition monitoring. In this paper, we propose a new flexible strain sensor based on thick CVD graphene film and its low-cost fabrication strategy by using the commercial adhesive tape as flexible substrate. The tensile tests in a strain range of ~30% were implemented, and a gage factor of 30 was achieved under high strain condition. The optical microscopic observation with different strains showed the evolution of cracks in graphene film. Together with commonly used platelet overlap theory and percolation network theory for sensor resistance modeling, we established an overlap destructive resistance model to analyze the sensing mechanism of our devices, which fitted the experimental data very well. The finding of difference of fitting parameters in small and large strain ranges revealed the multiple stage feature of graphene crack evolution. The resistance fallback phenomenon due to the viscoelasticity of flexible substrate was analyzed. Our flexible strain sensor with low cost and simple fabrication process exhibits great potential for commercial applications.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.157-164
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• 2014

In this paper, we design a gripping force control system using tactile sensor to prevent slip when gripper tries to grasp and lift an object. We use a flexible tactile sensor for measuring uniplanar pressure on gripper's finger and develop an algorithm to detect the onset of slip using the sensor output. We also use a flexible pressure sensor to measure the normal force. In addition, various signal processing techniques are used to reduce noise included in the sensor output. A 3-finger gripper is used to grasp and lift up a cylindrical object. The tactile sensor is attached on one of fingers, and sends output signals to detect slip. Whenever the sensor signal is similar to the slip pattern, gripper force is increased. In conclusion, this research shows that slip can be detected using the tactile sensor and we can control gripping force to eliminate slip between gripper and object.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• 제16권10호
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• pp.1222-1228
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• 2002

This research is the development of a flexible tactile sensor array for service robots using PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) film for the detection of a contact state in real time. The prototype of the tactile sensor which has 8${\times}$8 array using PVDF film was fabricated. In the fabrication procedure, the electrode patterns and the common electrode of the thin conductive tape were attached to both sides of the 281$\mu\textrm{m}$ thickness PVDF film using conductive adhesive. The sensor was covered with polyester film for insulation and attached to the rubber base for a stable structure. The proposed fabrication method is simple and easy to make the sensor. The sensor has the advantages in the implementing for practical applications because its structure is flexible and the shape of the each tactile element can be designed arbitrarily. The signals of a contact force to the tactile sensor were sensed and processed in the DSP system in which the signals are digitized and filtered. Finally, the signals were integrated for taking the force profile. The processed signals of the output of the sensor were visualized in a personal computer, and the shape and force distribution of the contact object were obtained. The reasonable performance for the detection of the contact state was verified through the sensing examples.

• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제6권6호
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• pp.471-477
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• 2000

The position control accuracy of a robot arm is significantly deteriorated when a long arm robot is operated at a high speed. In this case, the robot arm must be modeled as a flexible structure, not a rigid one, and its control system should be designed with its elastic modes taken into account. In this paper, the tip position control scheme of a one-link flexible manipulator using 2-DOF controller with sliding mode is presented. The robot consists of a flexible arm manufactured with a thin aluminium plate, an AC servo motor with a harmonic drive for speed reduction, an optical encoder and a CCD camera as a vision sensor for on-line measuring the tip deflection of the flexible m. Simulation and experimental results of the flexible manipulator with a proposed controller are provided to show the effectiveness of the controller.

• 센서학회지
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.359-364
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• 2009

This paper presents flexible electrocardiography(ECG) sensors using micro electro mechanical systems(MEMS) and flexible printed circuit(FPC) technology. By using FPC technology, ECG sensors which consisted of an outer hook-shaped electrode and an inner circular-shaped electrode were fabricated on the polyimide substrate. Thereafter, the bipolar ECG sensor was miniaturized using MEMS technology. The ECG measurement capability was examined by attaching the sensor to the human chest and wrist. Performance of the proposed sensors was then compared with ECG measured by commercial Ag/AgCl electrodes. It was verified that ECG could be measured using proposed sensors at only single body.

• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.188-192
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• 2012

In this study, a carbon nanotube (CNT) flexible strain sensor was fabricated with CNT based epoxy and rubber composites for tactile sensing. The flexible strain sensor can be fabricated as a long fibrous sensor and it also may be able to measure large deformation and contact information on a structure. The long and flexible sensor can be considered to be a continuous sensor like a dendrite of a neuron in the human body and we named the sensor as a biomimetic artificial neuron. For the application of the neuron in biomimetic engineering, an ANMS (Artificial Neuron Matrix System) was developed by means of the array of the neurons with a signal processing system. Moreover, a strain positioning algorithm was also developed to find localized tactile information of the ANMS with Labview for the application of an artificial e-skin.

• 센서학회지
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.119-123
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• 2015

This paper presents the inkjet-printed flexible temperature and humidity sensor(F-TH sensor) using PEDOT:PSS. The series, mesh and parallel type sensing element using PEDOT:PSS ink was printed on the overhead projector(OHP) film. The fabricated sensor of each structure has the temperature sensitivity of $140{\Omega}/^{\circ}C$, $29{\Omega}/^{\circ}C$ and $1.4{\Omega}/^{\circ}C$ with linearity, respectively. Also the fabricated sensor was not only possible to measure a temperature, but also to detect humidity. The humidity sensitivity of $400{\Omega}/%RH$, $3.4{\Omega}/%RH$ and $3{\Omega}/%RH$ with linearity, respectively. The fabricated F-TH sensor is expected for the various applications such as electronic devices, bio-healthcare, industrial field.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.11-19
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• 2014

In this paper, an external torque estimation problem in one-degree-of-freedom (1-DOF) flexible-joint robot equipped with a joint-torque sensor is revisited. Since a sensor torque from the joint-torque sensor is distorted by two dynamics having a spring connection, i.e., motor dynamics and link dynamics of a flexible-joint robot, a model-based estimation, rather than a simple linear spring model, should be required to extract external torques accurately. In this paper, an external torque estimation algorithm for a 1-DOF flexible-joint robot is proposed. This algorithm estimates both an actuating motor torque from the motor dynamics and an external link torque from the link dynamics simultaneously by utilizing the flexible-joint robot model and the Kalman filter estimation based on random-walk model. The basic structure of the proposed algorithm is explained, and the performance is investigated through a custom-designed experimental testbed for a vertical situation under gravity.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.1732-1739
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• 2018

With the explosion of digital devices, interaction technologies between human and devices are required more than ever. Especially, hand gesture recognition is advantageous in that it can be easily used. It is divided into the two groups: the contact sensor and the non-contact sensor. Compared with non-contact gesture recognition, the advantage of contact gesture recognition is that it is able to classify gestures that disappear from the sensor's sight. Also, since there is direct contacted with the user, relatively accurate information can be acquired. Electromyography (EMG) and force-sensitive resistors (FSRs) are the typical methods used for contact gesture recognition based on muscle activities. The sensors, however, are generally too sensitive to environmental disturbances such as electrical noises, electromagnetic signals and so on. In this paper, we propose a novel contact gesture recognition method based on Flexible Epidermal Tactile Sensor Array (FETSA) that is used to measure electrical signals according to movements of the wrist. To recognize gestures using FETSA, we extracted feature sets, and the gestures were subsequently classified using the support vector machine. The performance of the proposed gesture recognition method is very promising in comparison with two previous non-contact and contact gesture recognition studies.