Electrical Impedance Tomography for Artificial Sensitive Robotic Skin: A Review

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a nondestructive imaging technique used to estimate the internal conductivity distribution of a conductive domain by taking potential measurements only at the domain boundaries. If a thin electrically conductive material that responds to pressure with local changes in conductivity is used as a conductive domain, then EIT can be used to create a large-scale pressure-sensitive artificial skin for robotics applications. This paper presents a review of EIT and its application as a robotics sensitive skin, including EIT excitation and image reconstruction techniques, materials, and skin fabrication techniques. Touch interpretation via EIT-based artificial skins is also reviewed.