US Patent 9983744 Capacitive tactile sensor with nested matrix electrodes

A capacitive tactile sensor for measuring location and force of touch from an external object includes a drive electrode layer separated from a sense electrode layer by a dielectric substrate, which may be a two-sided FPCB. A first deformable conductive shield layer is further provided and is separated from either the drive electrode layer or the sense electrode layer by a first compressible dielectric layer. A control electronics are operatively connected to all of the drive electrode layer, sense electrode layer, and the first conductive shield layer. The control electronics may be configured to measure a change in capacitance upon the external object imparting local mechanical compression onto the first conductive shield layer and the first compressible dielectric layer. The tactile sensor improves reliability of interconnections between drive and sense electrodes and the control electronics.