Shielded soft force sensors

This project at LMTS, EPFL led to the development of electrically shielded capacitive force sensors, that simultaneously measure normal and shear strains, even near electric sparks. The devices have sub-mN force resolution in both normal and shear directions, can measure forces larger than 10 N, and operate reliably after repeated loading to 20 N load. Performance is unaffected by nearby high DC and AC electric fields, allowing use in a wide range of robotic sensing applications.

This work was published in Nature Communications and presented at the SPIE Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXV 2023. Read about this work at Nature Communications and watch a presentation at SPIE EAPAD XXV.