Tactile sensing is one of the most common ways of interacting with the environment. So common that it is most of the time unnoticed unless unpleasant sensations are involved (e.g. burning). The human being is completely covered, though the skin, by tactile sensors providing information about pressure and temperature variations translated into pleasant or unpleasant sensations, warnings messages and so on. The tactile resolution of the human skin can be as precise as tenths of millimeters in the fingertips up to some centimeters in other parts of the body. One interesting issue of the tactile sensing of the human skin is that it is not only responsive to normal forces, but also to shear, which is particularly important by graving delicate object and sensing roughness, among others. We refer two examples: - People with serious motor limitations have, in most of the cases, a decrease of sensitivity in the areas of the body in contact with the supporting surfaces (e.g. beds or wheel chairs). Their limited motor capacity does not allow them to regularly change position autonomously, as a healthy person would do unconsciously. Consequently, insufficient sanguineous irrigation occurs as a result of pressure exceeding the tissue capillary pressure for a long time, depriving tissues of oxygen and essential nutrients, leading to ischemia and hypoxia, which then causes the development of pressure ulcers. These ulcers can be developed either due to a constant pressure exerted normally to the skin or due to a shear pressure also in the skin. One way to reduce the probability of pressure related ulcer formation is to monitor the three axes force that people with serious motor limitations exert on the supporting surfaces. In order to do that, an array of three axes force sensors must be placed along a bed sheet, for example. - Gripping and manipulation of objects by robots require robust and reliable feedback of forces. For example, when a manipulator holds a fragile object, on the one hand, the force normal to the object must be as low as possible, and on the other hand, with a low normal force, the falling risk increases. One solution consists in measuring the shear forces and appropriately feedback them to electronics in order to adjust the necessary normal force. In order to do this a three axis soft flexible force sensor system seems to be more appropriate for delicate objects. A great challenge in the development of artifacts such as robot fingers and portable terminals is to create tactile information processing systems that closely resemble those of humans, both in terms of flexibility, durability and versatility. Such artifacts will allow