Panasonic Corporation

Kyoto Institute of Technology

Kaoru Yamashita

Hiroto Yamashita

Mitsuyuki Kimura

Tomoyuki Futakawa

A tactile sensor unit is provided, which includes a substrate; a coat formed on the substrate; and a cantilever beam structure having one end fixed to the substrate and curved to rise in such a direction that the other end of the cantilever beam structure is farther from the substrate than the one end. The tactile sensor unit detects a load applied to the coat. The cantilever beam structure is capable of resonating at a first resonant frequency and a second resonant frequency which is different from the first resonant frequency. The tactile sensor unit further includes a computation section for calculating a directional component of the load based on a change ratio of the first resonant frequency obtained in accordance with a change in the load and a change ratio of the second resonant frequency obtained in accordance with the change in the load.

Tactile sensor unit, robot including the tactile sensor unit, and load calculation method

A small and thin surface-mount type optical semiconductor device having high air tightness, which can be manufactured at a reduced cost includes: a baseformed of a glass substrate; a recessformed on a first main surfaceof the base; a through holeextending from a bottom portionof the recess to a second main surfaceof the base; an inner wall conductive film formed on an inner wall surface of the through hole; a wiring patternmade of a conductive film formed around an opening of the through hole on the bottom portion of the recess so as to be connected electrically to the inner wall conductive film; an optical semiconductor elementbonded to the wiring pattern via a conductive bonding material; a terminal portionmade of a conductive film formed around an opening of the through hole on the second main surface such that it is connected electrically to the inner wall conductive film; and a metal portionbonded to the inner wall conductive film to clog the through hole.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Kaoru Yamashita