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TakkTile Sensors
Legacy Products
TakkStrip
Five sensors cast independently, plus a "traffic cop" microcontroller that allows access to all five over I2C.
TakkStrip 2
Six sensors; three cast independently and three cast as an array. Plus a "traffic cop" microcontroller that allows access to all six over I2C.
TakkFast
A high-speed USB interface for TakkStrips that speaks to Linux — ROS-compatible!
STARTER KIT
One TakkStrip and one TakkStrip 2 cast in rubber, an interface Arduino, and wires — everything you need to get started.
ROBOTIQ KITS
Tactile sensors that were designed for the fingertips of the Robotiq Adaptive Gripper.
Plans & Tutorials
How it Works
RESEARCH ARTICLE: Y.Tenzer, L. P. Jentoft, R. D. Howe Inexpensive and Easily Customized Tactile Array Sensors using MEMS Barometers Chips, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, in press, 2014. Download.
MEMS barometers have found widespread application in consumer mobile devices such as GPS locators, where they are used for altitude calibration.
Because of this, we're able to leverage the same drivers that caused the Kinect to revolutionize Computer Vision — consumer scale applications bring dramatic economies of scale, and the cost savings are maintained when the devices are repurposed to robotic applications.
We have been using the MPL115A2 from Freescale (datasheet here). The chips consist of a MEMS diaphragm with a Wheatstone bridge, a instrumentation amplifier, a temperature sensor, multiplexer, analog-to-digital converter, and I2C bus — all for ~$1 USD
The block diagram below for the MPL115A2 chip is from a datasheet provided by Freescale
This diaphragm is cast under rubber, and vacuum degassed to bring rubber against the diaphragm. This greatly improves consistency and sensitivity.
How it works
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