3D printed triboelectric nanogenerators for texture sensing

• Main Author: Tan, Kyle Ke Hao
• Other Authors: Yifan Wang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168054
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are gaining more widespread attention due to its ability to generate electricity from mechanical motion. The ability to generate electricity from mechanical motion gives TENGs a wide range of applications, in particular, its use for texture sensing applications. The use of TENGs for texture sensing involves sliding the TENG across various textures and generating electrical waveforms from the mechanical sliding motion. Analyzing these waveforms will then allow the recognition of the textures, thus achieving texture sensing. The use of TENGs for texture sensing opens up many applications in the fields of artificial intelligence, prosthetics, and robotics, specifically, its use as electronic skins in robotic applications. Electronic skins in robotics essentially allows a robot to mimic the tactile detection that the human skin possesses, giving rise to smarter machines with a sense of touch. However, most other texture sensors possess complex designs with complicated fabrication methods, requiring the use of many materials. This project presents a novel TENG texture sensor with a simple design that can be easily fabricated with a few materials. The TENG texture sensor is capable of measuring repeating texture gaps with an average accuracy of 98.75%, and it is also able to differentiate rough surfaces like gravel-like textures from smoother textures like glass.