Artificial Sensitive Skin for Robotics Based on Electrical Impedance Tomography

Abstract

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a noninvasive measurement technique that estimates the internal resistivity distribution based on the boundary voltage–current data measured from the surface of the conductor. If a thin stretchable soft material with a certain piezoresistive property is used as the electrical conductor, EIT has the ability to reconstruct the position where the resistivity changes due to the inside pressure contact, so that a large‐scale artificial sensitive skin is provided for robotics. First, the different conduction principles and material types of artificial sensitive skins are discussed, which is next followed by the different driving modes and image reconstruction techniques. Then, details on how EIT is used for robotic skin applications are described. Finally, the development trends and future potentials of EIT‐based robotic skins are expounded.