Bend Labs Digital Flex Sensor - 2-Axis, 4 Inch

The Bend Labs Digital Flex Sensors are an innovative solution for measuring motion, providing a unique alternative to existing sensor technologies for measuring a highly accurate and drift-free angular displacement in a soft form factor while maintaining extremely low power consumption. Constructed using highly durable, medical grade silicone elastomers, this is a two axis bidirectional sensor which measures two angles in orthogonal planes for 3D orientation. Where previous flex sensors required analog-to-digital conversion and had delicate connection points, this digital flex sensor has a built-in microcontroller with an easy to use I²C interface. Its low-power, integrated analog front end provides angular displacement data in degrees and includes onboard calibration

Extraneous bending has minimal impact on the sensor's output. Common mode signals such as stretching and temperature fluctuations are also rejected, providing a high fidelity measurement of angular displacement ideal for a wide variety of applications. This sensor requires 1.62-3.6V regulated supply for proper operation. Additionally Bend Labs has written an Android demo app using the SparkFun nRF52840 showing how to transmit flex values over BLE. You'll need the nRF52840, the example sketch, the Bend Labs driver, and an Android phone.

Note: Due to licensing restrictions Bend Labs technology cannot be licensed for commercial use in the AR/VR field.

Features:

• Highly flexible, soft, silicone elastomers for unrestricted bending
• Water/weather resistant and highly durable
• Onboard calibration and bootloader
• Sensitivity: 0.016° LSB
• Voltage: 1.8-3.63V
• Output: I²C
• Power Consumption @ 3.3V
  • 243uA @ 100Hz
  • Active run down to 97uA
  • 1.7 uA suspended
  • 50 nA shutdown
• Power Consumption @ 1.8V
  • 223uA @ 100Hz
  • Active run down to 78uA
  • 1.7uA suspended
  • 55nA shutdown
• Dimensions: 100mm x 4mm x 4mm
• Life Cycle: >1M cycles

Documents:

• Getting Started Guide
• Demonstration Video
• Datasheet
• Pinout
• Theory Guide
• Displacement Sensor Arduino Library
• GitHub Hardware Repo

Videos