Rishabh B. Mishra, currently working under the supervision of  Dr. Aftab M Hussain, Center for VLSI and Embedded Systems Technology (CVEST) presented a paper on Polymer/paper-based double touch mode capacitive pressure sensing element for wireless control of robotic arm at the 15th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered & Molecular Systems (Virtual IEEE NEMS) 2020 from 27 – 30 September. The conference was supposed to happen in San Diego, USA was however held virtually due to COVID’19. The paper was shortlisted for best student paper award.

The authors and their affiliations are:  

• R B Mishra and A M Hussain are affiliated with PATRIoT Lab, Centre for VLSI and Embedded Systems (CVEST), IIIT Hyderabad.
• R B Mishra, W Babatain, N El-Atab and M M Hussain are affiliated with MMH Labs, Electrical and Computer Engineering, KAUST.
• M M Hussain is also affiliated with Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), University of California, Berkeley.

Research  work as explained by the authors of the paper: 

In this work, a large area, low cost and flexible polymer/paper-based double touch mode capacitive pressure sensor is demonstrated. Garage fabrication processes are used which only require cutting, taping and assembly of aluminium (Al) coated polyimide (PI) foil, PI tape and double-sided scotch tape. The presented pressure sensor operates in different pressure regions i.e. normal (0 to 7.5 kPa), transition (7.5 to 14.24 kPa), linear (14.24 to 54.9 kPa) and saturation (above 54.9 kPa). The advantages of the demonstrated double touch mode capacitive pressure sensors are low temperature drift, long linear range, high pressure sensitivity, precise pressure measurement and large die area. The linear output along with a high sensitivity range (14.24 to 54.9 kPa pressure range) of the sensor are utilized to wirelessly control the movement of a robotic arm with precise rotation and tilt movement capabilities.

 IEEE-NEMS is a premier conference series sponsored by the IEEE Nanotechnology Council focusing on the promotion of advanced research areas related to M/NEMS, nanotechnology, and molecular technology.

 More details at: https://ieee-nems.org/2020/