Vision-based tactile sensors have recently become popular due to their combination of low cost, very high spatial resolution, and ease of integration using widely available miniature cameras. The associated field of view and focal length, however, are difficult to package in a human-sized finger. In this paper we employ optical fiber bundles to achieve a form factor that, at 15 mm diameter, is smaller than an average human fingertip. The electronics and camera are also located remotely, further reducing package size. The sensor achieves a spatial resolution of 0.22 mm and a minimum force resolution 5 mN for normal and shear contact forces. With these attributes, the DIGIT Pinki sensor is suitable for applications such as robotic and teleoperated digital palpation. We demonstrate its utility for palpation of the prostate gland and show that it can achieve clinically relevant discrimination of prostate stiffness for phantom and ex vivo tissue.
@article{arxiv.2403.05500,
title = {Using Fiber Optic Bundles to Miniaturize Vision-Based Tactile Sensors},
author = {Julia Di and Zdravko Dugonjic and Will Fu and Tingfan Wu and Romeo Mercado and Kevin Sawyer and Victoria Rose Most and Gregg Kammerer and Stefanie Speidel and Richard E. Fan and Geoffrey Sonn and Mark R. Cutkosky and Mike Lambeta and Roberto Calandra},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.05500},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. The CAD design files of DIGIT Pinki are available at https://github.com/facebookresearch/digit-design