Development of Flexible Dualtype Proximity Sensor with Resonant Frequency for Robotic Applications This paper presents a flexible dualtype proximity sensor forrobotic applications such as human collaborative robots(HCRs) todetect the surroundings. The sensor consists of two parts; sensing transducer and a shielding layer. To amplify the sensing performance, a resonant frequency is formed by an inductive(Ltype) electrode and two capacitive(Ctype) electrodes, which are placed in coplanar with an LCR circuit. An optimal frequency range is suggested to amplify the proximity detecting performance with a consistent response of impedance change. The developed sensor has a size of 100 x120x2.8 mm3. To obtain the flexibility for various robot surfaces attachment, the electrode layer is made of Flexible Printed (a) Circuit Board(FPCB). Combined with the grounded shielding layer, the sensor can detect objects up to 300 mm in 10 mm resolution when attached to a grounded surface. The sensor is evaluated in diverse circumstances to validity for practical use on robotics.

Design of a Novel Gripper System with 3D and Inkjetprinted Multimodal Sensors for Automated Grasping of a Forestry Robot Future industrial robotic systems increasingly rely on automation of dangerous and tedious tasks. The acquisition of diverse and partially redundant information using reliable and rugged multimodal sensors helps to improve the safety an dependability of such systems. In this paper we propose proximity sensors suitable for the integration into the gripper of a forestry robot. The suggested sensors are complementary to vision based data acquisition as it can in particular provide information on objects close to the gripper that could otherwise not be obtained due to occlusion and missing direct line of sight. We present the design, fabrication and evaluation of 3Dand inkjetprinted capacitive sensors for grasping applications in harsh industrial environment, especially forestry robotics. The sensor elements have been developed along with a complete gripper redesign. The suggested fabrication strategy allows retrofitting of various industry components and reduced maintenance and costs as well as applicationspecific design and optimization and are also suitable for wireless operation. The developed gripper allows the support of grasping tasks by providing proximity and contact information.