On the Effect of Layering Velostat on Force Sensing for Hands
Force sensing on hands can provide an understanding of interaction forces during manipulation, with applications in different fields, including robotics and medicine. While several approaches to accomplish this have been proposed, they often require relatively complex and/or expensive fabrication te...
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/10/3245 |
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| author | Tyler Bartunek Ann Majewicz Fey Edoardo Battaglia |
| author_facet | Tyler Bartunek Ann Majewicz Fey Edoardo Battaglia |
| author_sort | Tyler Bartunek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Force sensing on hands can provide an understanding of interaction forces during manipulation, with applications in different fields, including robotics and medicine. While several approaches to accomplish this have been proposed, they often require relatively complex and/or expensive fabrication techniques and materials. On the other hand, less complex and expensive approaches often suffer from poor accuracy of measurements. An example of this is provided by sensors built with Velostat, a polyethylene–carbon composite material that exhibits resistance changes when force is applied. This material is both cheap and easy to work with, but sensors made from Velostat have been shown to suffer from low accuracy, limiting its usefulness. This work explores the effect of stacking multiple layers of 0.1 mm Velostat sheets on accuracy, using no additional fabrication techniques or other material aside from electrode connections, with the rationale that this is both economical and can be accomplished easily. We evaluate measurement error for designs with different numbers of layers (1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, and 30) against a load cell, and also compare this with the error for a USD 10 commercial force sensing resistor designed for measurement of hand forces (FSR 402) in three evaluations (static, cyclic, and finger base interactions). Our results show that layered sensors outperform both the one-layer design and the commercial FSR sensor consistently under all conditions considered, with the best performing sensors reducing measurement errors by at least 27% and as much as 60% when compared against the one-layer design. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-660779cfc3f544d18a24d6f78dc3a2ec |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj-art-660779cfc3f544d18a24d6f78dc3a2ec2025-08-20T02:33:51ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202025-05-012510324510.3390/s25103245On the Effect of Layering Velostat on Force Sensing for HandsTyler Bartunek0Ann Majewicz Fey1Edoardo Battaglia2Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USAForce sensing on hands can provide an understanding of interaction forces during manipulation, with applications in different fields, including robotics and medicine. While several approaches to accomplish this have been proposed, they often require relatively complex and/or expensive fabrication techniques and materials. On the other hand, less complex and expensive approaches often suffer from poor accuracy of measurements. An example of this is provided by sensors built with Velostat, a polyethylene–carbon composite material that exhibits resistance changes when force is applied. This material is both cheap and easy to work with, but sensors made from Velostat have been shown to suffer from low accuracy, limiting its usefulness. This work explores the effect of stacking multiple layers of 0.1 mm Velostat sheets on accuracy, using no additional fabrication techniques or other material aside from electrode connections, with the rationale that this is both economical and can be accomplished easily. We evaluate measurement error for designs with different numbers of layers (1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, and 30) against a load cell, and also compare this with the error for a USD 10 commercial force sensing resistor designed for measurement of hand forces (FSR 402) in three evaluations (static, cyclic, and finger base interactions). Our results show that layered sensors outperform both the one-layer design and the commercial FSR sensor consistently under all conditions considered, with the best performing sensors reducing measurement errors by at least 27% and as much as 60% when compared against the one-layer design.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/10/3245tactile sensingVelostatlow-cost sensingflexible sensors |
| spellingShingle | Tyler Bartunek Ann Majewicz Fey Edoardo Battaglia On the Effect of Layering Velostat on Force Sensing for Hands Sensors tactile sensing Velostat low-cost sensing flexible sensors |
| title | On the Effect of Layering Velostat on Force Sensing for Hands |
| title_full | On the Effect of Layering Velostat on Force Sensing for Hands |
| title_fullStr | On the Effect of Layering Velostat on Force Sensing for Hands |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the Effect of Layering Velostat on Force Sensing for Hands |
| title_short | On the Effect of Layering Velostat on Force Sensing for Hands |
| title_sort | on the effect of layering velostat on force sensing for hands |
| topic | tactile sensing Velostat low-cost sensing flexible sensors |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/10/3245 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tylerbartunek ontheeffectoflayeringvelostatonforcesensingforhands AT annmajewiczfey ontheeffectoflayeringvelostatonforcesensingforhands AT edoardobattaglia ontheeffectoflayeringvelostatonforcesensingforhands |