In order to better perceive and manipulate the surrounding environment, various tactile sensing technologies have been developed over the last decades, taking inspiration from the human sense of touch. The tactile sensors have been greatly improved in terms of miniaturization, integration, sensitivity, resolution, etc. However, it is still a huge challenge to integrate them into devices on a large scale with different shapes that require tactile information as feedback. This survey summarizes the mainstream tactile sensing technologies into eight categories in order to discuss the general merits and demerits of each type. An overall picture of the design criteria that can help the researchers to evaluate the performance of a tactile sensing device is presented before an extensive review of the applications, including electrical skins (e-skin), robotics, wearable devices, and medical services. After that, trends of the above fields are presented, such as multifunctional sensing capability, adjustable sensing density in a large area, conformability to complex surfaces, self-powered array, etc. It should be noted that the state-of-art achievements in e-skins will more or less facilitate the development of other fields in which tactile sensing technologies are urgently needed. Finally, challenges and open issues are discussed based on the perspective of mass production, including standardization of the fabrication process, data transmission of a high-density sensing array, fault tolerance and autocalibration, and the layout of sensing elements on an irregular 3D surface without losing the mechanical and electrical performance of the sensors.

Chapter Contents:

• 7.1 Introduction
• 7.2 Hardware of various tactile sensing technologies
• 7.2.1 Resistive
• 7.2.2 Piezoelectric
• 7.2.3 Capacitive
• 7.2.4 Optical
• 7.2.5 Magnetic field
• 7.2.6 Quantum tunneling composite
• 7.2.7 Triboelectric effect
• 7.2.8 Field-effect transistor
• 7.3 Design criterion and performance index of a tactile sensing system
• 7.4 Applications of tactile sensing technologies
• 7.4.1 Development trend of tactile sensing technologies in e-skin
• 7.4.2 Development trend of tactile sensing technologies in a wearable device
• 7.4.3 Development trend of tactile sensing technologies in robotic
• 7.4.4 Development trend of tactile sensing technologies in medical service
• 7.5 Challenges and discussion
• 7.5.1 Standardization of fabrication process
• 7.5.2 Data transmission of high-density tactile sensing elements
• 7.5.3 Fault tolerance and autocalibration
• 7.5.4 Layout of sensing elements on an irregular 3D
• References

Inspec keywords: tactile sensors

Other keywords: tactile information; multifunctional sensing capability; fabrication process; sensing elements; mainstream tactile sensing technologies; tactile sensing device; mechanical performance; wearable device; e-skin; medical service; adjustable sensing density; electrical skins; tactile sensors; high-density sensing array; electrical performance

Subjects: Sensing devices and transducers; Sensing and detecting devices