Developing a sensor solution
Our technique allows one electromagnetic coil to selectively vibrate multiple smaller tactile pixels (taxels) based on their mechanical resonance frequency.
We now investigate the integration of tactile sensing mechanism in the new actuator to control the vibration of tactile elements.
Thereby, we have embedded off-the-shelf piezoelectric sensors underneath the taxels to track the resonance frequency of the taxels. However, the bulky size of these sensors avoids using individual sensors especially in the high-resolution taxel configuration, whereby multiple taxels are implemented within a small area.
In this project, we have designed capacitive MEMS sensors in XFAB processes to measure the vibration of 3D printed taxels. The capacitive sensors built in XMB10 processes will measure the displacement of taxels in Z direction and supply the measured output as the feedback signal to the actuator input.