Screen Printed Tactile Sensing Arrays for Prosthetic Applications

Abstract

The lack of tactile sensation in current upper limb prostheses is the key limitation to enable more intuitive use of the prosthesis and restore the functionality of the natural limb. Electronic skin in the form of tactile sensing arrays can be integrated onto the upper limb prosthetic device to record information about touch, given back to the amputee as a sensory feedback. This contribution focusses on the development of tactile sensing arrays based on PVDF-TrFE piezoelectric polymers. Both piezoelectric polymer sensors and metal contacts have been screen-printed on a transparent plastic foil. The geometric layout and size of the 4×4 array is suitable for prosthesis fingertips. Preliminary experimental validation of the skin patches is reported in this paper.