- Tactile Sensor Board and supporting equipment. Priced
at $600 (including S&H inside the US, add $30 for overseas shipping).
-
- 1 kit includes the following:
-
- a) 1 - Tactile sensor board (assembled
& tested)
- b) 35 - Force sensing resistors (FSRs)
- c) 1 - 25 pin parallel printer cable
(male - female)
- d) 1 - 26 pin to 25 pin parallel
interface cable (5 inches)
- e) 4 - 20 pin ribbon cables.
- f) 1 - Variable voltage power
transformer.
- g) 1 - Power adaptor cable & 2 connectors.
- h) 8 - spare SIPs (different resistors yield
different sensitivity)
- i) 1 - 3 1/2" floppy software diskette.
- j) 1 - Hardware assembly guide.
- k) 1 - Software development guide.
- l) 2 - free support calls
Board & FSRs
Board & cables
FSR Theory and History
A Force sensing resistor (FSR) is somewhat similar to a strain gauge with two major
differences. First, since most strain gauges are made of ceramic material, they will break
if deflected very much. An FSR is made from a polymer so it can withstand greater
deflection. Second, the response of most strain gauges is linear so that its sensitivity
is limited. However, the response of an FSR is logarithmic so that its response covers a
wider range with more accuracy. FRSs are an offshoot of the music industry. When musical
keyboards first appeared, the keyboards had no sensitivity so that when you hit a key, you
always got the same response. Musicians wanted to get a variable response which depended
on how hard they hit the keys. Hence the FSR was developed to satisfy that demand.
The size of the FSR shown here is about 1/4" (6mm) wide and about 1 5/8" (40
mm) long. It would be nice if they were smaller. The manufacturer has told me that I need
to buy at least 10,000 a month for 6 months in order for them to make a customized model
for us.
Customer Comments
From: Mr. M. S. in Sweden, 5/31/01
Hi Chris,
As a matter of fact I tried it (his touch sensor
board) out yesterday and I was REALLY IMPRESSED with the sensor's performance! No
hysteresis whatsoever when unloaded, little drift during static load, logarithmic
response. IT WAS REALLY GREAT!
General Information: crwillis@androidworld.com
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