Design and fabrication of an artificial skin using PI-copper films

This paper presents the design, fabrication and measurement of a flexible 8 times 8 temperature and tactile sensing array which will be used as the artificial skin for robot applications. The temperature and pressure sensing elements are heterogeneously integrated on a flexible copper-PI film using micromachining techniques. The tactile sensing elements are fabricated by dispensing conductive polymer on the pre-defined inter-digital copper electrodes. Discrete temperature sensor chips are employed as the temperature sensing elements. Scanning circuits are implemented and experimental results are also provided.