Interfacing Flex Sensor with Arduino

A flex sensor is basically a variable resistor, whose resistance varies when bent. Because the resistance is
directly proportional to the amount of bending, it is often referred to as a Flexible Potentiometer.

Flex sensors are typically available in two sizes: 2.2′′ (5.588cm) long and 4.5′′ (11.43cm) long.

Reading a Flex Sensor

The simplest way to read the flex sensor is to combine it with a static resistor to form a voltage divider,
which produces a variable voltage that can be read by the analog-to-digital converter of a microcontroller.

flex voltage divider

It is important to note that the output voltage you measure is the voltage drop across the pull-down
resistor, not the voltage drop across the flex sensor.
Code

const int flexPin = A0; // Pin connected to voltage divider output

// Change these constants according to your project's design

const float VCC = 5; // voltage at Ardunio 5V line

const float R_DIV = 47000.0; // resistor used to create a voltage divider

const float flatResistance = 25000.0; // resistance when flat

const float bendResistance = 100000.0; // resistance at 90 deg

void setup() {

Serial.begin(9600);

pinMode(flexPin, INPUT);

void loop() {

// Read the ADC, and calculate voltage and resistance from it

int ADCflex = analogRead(flexPin);

float Vflex = ADCflex * VCC / 1023.0;

float Rflex = R_DIV * (VCC / Vflex - 1.0);

Serial.println("Resistance: " + String(Rflex) + " ohms");

// Use the calculated resistance to estimate the sensor's bend angle:

float angle = map(Rflex, flatResistance, bendResistance, 0, 90.0);

Serial.println("Bend: " + String(angle) + " degrees");

Serial.println();

delay(500);
}