Patent ID: 9534969
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: G01B,G01L

Claim:
1. A thin-film flexible tactile sensor, comprising: a sensing network formed from an array of optical pathways arranged in a flexible material, each of the optical pathways having an input at a first end thereof and an output at a second end thereof; a plurality of light sources, one for each of the optical pathways, each of the plurality of light sources coupled to the input of a respective associated optical pathway, each of the plurality of light sources directing a light signal having a first predetermined frequency and characteristic into the associated optical pathway; a plurality of light detectors, one for each of the optical pathways, each of the plurality of light detectors coupled to the output of a respective associated optical pathway, each of the plurality of light detectors receiving a light signal from the associated optical pathway and generating an output signal corresponding to the magnitude of the received light signal at a second predetermined frequency; and a processor coupled to receive the output signals from each of the plurality of light detectors and configured to determine an amount of pressure applied to the sensing network based on the received signals from the plurality of light detectors; and wherein each of optical pathways causes variations in the magnitude of light transmitted therethrough to the second end when pressure is applied to an optical pathway in a region in the array, and wherein the processor is configured to determine the amount of pressure applied to the region of the array of optical pathways based at least on changes in the output signals from the one or more light detectors coupled to the one or more optical pathways to which a pressure was applied.