Related papers: Towards vision-based robotic skins: a data-driven,…
We introduce a low-cost method for mounting sensors onto robot links for large-area sensing coverage that does not require the sensor's positions or orientations to be calibrated before use. Using computer aided design (CAD), a robot skin…
Soft sensors that can discriminate shear and normal force could help provide machines the fine control desirable for safe and effective physical interactions with people. A capacitive sensor is made for this purpose, composed of patterned…
Humans achieve stable and dexterous object manipulation by coordinating grasp forces across multiple fingers and palms, facilitated by a unified tactile memory system in the somatosensory cortex. This system encodes and stores tactile…
Due to their ability to move without sliding relative to their environment, soft growing robots are attractive for deploying distributed sensor networks in confined spaces. Sensing of the state of such robots would also add to their…
We propose a new robotic cover prototype that achieves thermal display while also being soft. We focus on the thermal cue because previous human studies have identified it as part of the touch pleasantness. The robotic cover surface can be…
Tactile representation learning (TRL) equips robots with the ability to leverage touch information, boosting performance in tasks such as environment perception and object manipulation. However, the heterogeneity of tactile sensors results…
Tactile sensing typically involves active exploration of unknown surfaces and objects, making it especially effective at processing the characteristics of materials and textures. A key property extracted by human tactile perception is…
In this paper, we present algorithms to estimate external contact forces and joint torques using only skin, i.e. distributed tactile sensors. To deal with gaps between the tactile sensors (taxels), we use interpolation techniques. The…
Developing artificial tactile sensing capabilities that rival human touch is a long-term goal in robotics and prosthetics. Gradually more elaborate biomimetic tactile sensors are being developed and applied to grasping and manipulation…
This paper presents a novel design of a soft tactile finger with omni-directional adaptation using multi-channel optical fibers for rigid-soft interactive grasping. Machine learning methods are used to train a model for real-time prediction…
Recently, tactile sensing has attracted great interest in robotics, especially for facilitating exploration of unstructured environments and effective manipulation. A detailed understanding of the surface textures via tactile sensing is…
Traditional methods to achieve high localization accuracy with tactile sensors usually use a matrix of miniaturized individual sensors distributed on the area of interest. This approach usually comes at a price of increased complexity in…
Having the ability to estimate an object's properties through interaction will enable robots to manipulate novel objects. Object's dynamics, specifically the friction and inertial parameters have only been estimated in a lab environment…
Robotic manipulation of cloth has applications ranging from fabrics manufacturing to handling blankets and laundry. Cloth manipulation is challenging for robots largely due to their high degrees of freedom, complex dynamics, and severe…
Robots engaged in complex manipulation tasks require robust material property recognition to ensure adaptability and precision. Traditionally, visual data has been the primary source for object perception; however, it often proves…
This work contributes an event-driven visual-tactile perception system, comprising a novel biologically-inspired tactile sensor and multi-modal spike-based learning. Our neuromorphic fingertip tactile sensor, NeuTouch, scales well with the…
In this paper, we tackle the problem of estimating 3D contact forces using vision-based tactile sensors. In particular, our goal is to estimate contact forces over a large range (up to 15 N) on any objects while generalizing across…
Haptic feedback is the most significant sensory interface following visual cues. Developing thin, flexible surfaces that function as haptic interfaces is important for augmenting virtual reality, wearable devices, robotics and prostheses.…
Tactile sensing is of great importance during human hand usage such as object exploration, grasping and manipulation. Different types of tactile sensors have been designed during the past decades, which are mainly focused on either the…
In modern robotic applications, tactile sensor arrays (i.e., artificial skins) are an emergent solution to determine the locations of contacts between a robot and an external agent. Localizing the point of contact is useful but determining…