A force sensor made by diaphragm pattern mounted on a deformable circular plate

Abstract

Measurement of the real distribution of pressure under the foot is an important challenge to obtain an efficacious stability control and a real dynamic walk. This paper is the result of the work of two students in mechanical and mechatronic engineering who have built a force sensor using a diaphragm pattern mounted on a deformable circular plate. The result of this study is a cheaper but accurate force sensor that will be mounted on the humanoid robot "I-2" of Politecnico di Torino. The design of the sensor in centred to analyse the deformation of a circular plate loaded at the center considering various edge conditions. It begin from the structural analyse of the plates considering different loads and edge conditions to obtain a deformation model as near as possible to reality. Final goal will be to obtain an output voltage proportional to the deformation of the plate. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.