Contactless deflection sensor for soft robots

In the emerging field of soft robotics, there is an interest in developing new kinds of sensors whose characteristics do not affect the intrinsic compliance of soft robot components. Additionally, non-invasive shape and deflection sensors may provoke improved solutions to assist in the control of mechanical parts in these robots. Herein, we introduce a novel method for deflection sensing where an LED element and a photodiode are placed on to two substrates connected physically or virtually at a deflection point. The deflection angle between the two planes can be extracted from the LED light intensity detected at the photodiode due to the bell-shaped angular intensity profile of the emitted light. The main advantage of this system is that the components are not in physical contact with the deflection region as in the case of strain gauges and similar sensing methods. The sensor is characterized in a range of deflections of 105-180 degrees, showing a near 1 degree resolution. The experimental data are compared to simulations, modeled by ray tracing. The light intensity vs. deflection angle measurements in our setup display a maximum difference of 9% and an average difference of approximately 5% with respect to the model. Finally, a shape monitoring system has been developed using the proposed concept for a flexible PCB. The system is composed of 12 deflection sensors that operate at frame rate of 33 Hz. This device could be applied to monitor the body shape of a soft robot.