Experimental Estimation of Gap Thickness and Electrostatic Forces Between Contacting Surfaces Under Electroadhesion

Electroadhesion (EA) is a promising technology with potential applications in robotics, automation, space missions, textiles, tactile displays, and some other fields where efficient and versatile adhesion is required. However, a comprehensive understanding of the physics behind it is lacking due to the limited development of theoretical models and insufficient experimental data to validate them. This article proposes a new and systematic approach based on electrical impedance measurements to infer the electrostatic forces between two dielectric materials under EA. The proposed approach is applied to tactile displays, where skin and voltage-induced touchscreen impedances are measured and subtracted from the total impedance to obtain the remaining impedance to estimate the electrostatic forces between the finger and the touchscreen. This approach also marks the first instance of experimental estimation of the average air gap thickness between a human finger and a voltage-induced capacitive touchscreen. Moreover, the effect of electrode polarization impedance on EA is investigated. Precise measurements of electrical impedances confirm that electrode polarization impedance exists in parallel with the impedance of the air gap, particularly at low frequencies, giving rise to the commonly observed charge leakage phenomenon in EA.