Development and evaluation of a two-axial shearing force sensor consisting of an optical sensor chip and elastic gum frame

•We report a two-axial shearing force sensor device.•The device is small and can measure shearing force along two axes.•The performance and characteristics can be changed easily by replacing elastic gum frame. We developed a promising shearing force sensor that is small in size and can measure shearing force along two axes independently. This sensor consists of an elastic gum frame and an optical sensor chip (6mm×6mm×8mm). From the experimental results, the resolutions of the sensor along the x- and y-axes are found to be 0.070N and 0.063N. We also experimentally demonstrated that the sensor can separately measure shearing force along two axes. Finally, we demonstrated that the scale factor which correspond to resolution and linear portion which correspond to measuring range of the signals can be changed easily by using three types of elastic gum frame. This sensor can be embedded in the finger of a robot hand and use it to not only measure shearing force but also detect the slip phenomenon.