Stretchable capacitive tactile skin on humanoid robot fingers - first experiments and results

A stretchable tactile sensor skin has been demonstrated on the dorsal side of a robotic hand for the first time. The sensors can detect normal pressures on the same scale as human skin but also in excess of 250 kPa and withstand strains in excess of 15%. Using tactile information from the sensors mounted on a glove worn by a humanoid robot's hand, obstacle detection and surface reconstruction tasks were successfully completed in order to demonstrate the performance of the sensors under applied strains and pressure.