Novel Tactile Sensor Technology and Smart Tactile Sensing Systems: A Review

Liang Zou, Chang Ge, Z. Wang, Edmond Cretu, Xiaoou Li
2017 Sensors  
During the last decades, smart tactile sensing systems based on different sensing techniques have been developed due to their high potential in industry and biomedical engineering. However, smart tactile sensing technologies and systems are still in their infancy, as many technological and system issues remain unresolved and require strong interdisciplinary efforts to address them. This paper provides an overview of smart tactile sensing systems, with a focus on signal processing technologies
more » ... ed to interpret the measured information from tactile sensors and/or sensors for other sensory modalities. The tactile sensing transduction and principles, fabrication and structures are also discussed with their merits and demerits. Finally, the challenges that tactile sensing technology needs to overcome are highlighted. of 24 in practical applications is still limited [4] . One of the main reasons stems from the difficulties with the processing of acquired data from tactile sensors [4, 14] . Compared to other senses, such as visual and hearing, the properties of tactile sensor data are much more variable [15] . The signals from tactile sensors can be noisy, high-dimensional, complex and contain irrelevant information as well as essential one [16] . There still is lack of signal processing and machine learning methods that can deal with such complicated problems [16] . An effective tactile sensing system should be endowed both advanced tactile sensors and/or sensors for other sensory modalities, which are able to perceive information from the environment, and intelligent signal processing tools capable of interpreting the measured information and making decisions [17, 18] . However, to our knowledge, there is no smart sensing system capable of perceiving and interpreting surrounding information at the same level as the human somatosensory system yet [19] . In addition, the penetration of tactile sensors in industrial and biomedical applications is still extremely low [4] . Most of the existing smart tactile systems are still mainly research tools. The development of smart tactile sensing systems is still an open problem with many technical and scientific challenges. It requires strong interdisciplinary efforts, not only for advanced tactile sensors, but also for appropriate algorithms to deal with the acquired data. Smart tactile sensing can be enhanced by advances in the utilized materials, fabrication technologies and signal processing. Although some topics tackled in this paper may overlap with some previous surveys, the focus of this review is different. This paper extends previous reviews by focusing on the current state-of-the-art machine learning and signal processing technology, outstanding challenges which must be overcome, and applications of smart tactile sensing technology. In addition, novel physical principles, material processing methods, and more recent developed fabrication technologies that can contribute to the hardware development of tactile sensing systems are also discussed.
doi:10.3390/s17112653 pmid:29149080 pmcid:PMC5713637 fatcat:h725jo4frbafvmijwik3hr425i