IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2022 - 117

Design and Fabrication
To adapt natural whiskers to an engineering application, our
present work focuses on the sensing principle and anatomical
structure of rat whiskers. In the biological model of rat whiskers
[17], the FSC growing at the base of the whiskers plays an
important role in the acquisition of information about the
environment. Circumferentially oriented, spiny endings in the
FSC are able to detect the deformation of whiskers, convert
mechanical strain into electrical signals, and transport these
signals to the central nervous system [18]. On the basis of this
fact, we designed a miniature whisker sensor that is a combination
of a thin shaft representing the whisker and a pressuresensitive
unit imitating the FSC.
Design of the Whisker Sensor
On the basis of ensuring the sensing capability of the whisker
sensor, we abandoned the previous design of an array
structure that uses four sensing units and instead integrated
the sensing units into one to minimize its size. The main
principle of the sensor's design is to use the change in resistance
caused by the whisker's deformation as input and the
voltage information to reflect the deformation as output.
Piezoresistors are used to transfer the pressure change
caused by whisker deformation into a change in resistance,
and two Wheatstone bridge circuits are set up to measure
the value of this resistance change in both the x and y directions
by placing piezoresistors at suitable positions on the
bridge's four arms.
As shown in Figure 1(a),
imitating the FSC in a rat's
whisker, we developed a
sensing unit whose center
connector is joined to an
artificial whisker shaft.
The center connector is
fixed on four edges by
two pairs of symmetrical,
slender sensing beams
with two piezoresistors
implanted on each one.
Finite-element analysis
was used to verify the
static characteristics of the
four-beam model, and it
was found that the maximum
stress occurs near both ends of the sensing beam.
Thus, two piezoresistors are positioned at both ends of each
beam. Taking the circuit consisting of one pair of sensing
beams for analysis [Figure 1(b)], positioning the two pairs of
piezoresistors in this way with respect to the peripheral
To establish the tactile
perception of whisker
sensors, two main
functionalities are
commonly developed:
texture discrimination and
contour reconstruction.
FSC
Rat
Whisker
Blood
Sinus
Skin
Muscle
COSE
5 mm
(a)
Vout
-
500 µm
Merkel
Cell
Piezoresistor
Whisker
Sensor
Sensing Unit
Center
Connector
R1
R2
Vout
+
(b)
Figure 1. The design of the whisker sensor. (a) The design principle. (b) The Wheatstone bridge connection of the piezoresistors.
COSE: circumferentially oriented spiny ending.
DECEMBER 2022 * IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE *
117
R4
R3

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2022

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