Related papers: Scalable Tactile Sensing for an Omni-adaptive Soft…
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…
This work details the design of a novel two finger robot gripper with multiple Gelsight based optical-tactile sensors covering the inner surface of the hand. The multiple Gelsight sensors can gather the surface topology of the object from…
Robotics research has long sought to give robots the ability to perceive the physical world through touch in an analogous manner to many biological systems. Developing such tactile capabilities is important for numerous emerging…
The tactile sensing capabilities of human hands are essential in performing daily activities. Simultaneously perceiving normal and shear forces via the mechanoreceptors integrated into the hands enables humans to achieve daily tasks like…
We describe a novel three-finger robot hand that has high resolution tactile sensing along the entire length of each finger. The fingers are compliant, constructed with a soft shell supported with a flexible endoskeleton. Each finger…
Tactile sensing is an essential capability for robots that carry out dexterous manipulation tasks. While cameras, Lidars and other remote sensors can assess a scene globally and instantly, tactile sensors can reduce their measurement…
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…
To enable robots to develop human-like fine manipulation, it is essential to understand how mechanical compliance, multi-modal sensing, and purposeful interaction jointly shape tactile perception. In this study, we use a dedicated modular…
We want to enable fine manipulation with a multi-fingered robotic hand by using modern deep reinforcement learning methods. Key for fine manipulation is a spatially resolved tactile sensor. Here, we present a novel model of a tactile skin…
Soft optical tactile sensors enable robots to manipulate deformable objects by capturing important features such as high-resolution contact geometry and estimations of object compliance. This work presents a variable stiffness soft tactile…
This paper introduces the TacFR-Gripper, a reconfigurable Fin Ray-based soft and compliant robotic gripper equipped with tactile skin, which can be used for dexterous in-hand manipulation tasks. This gripper can adaptively grasp objects of…
Soft robots have a myriad of potentials because of their intrinsically compliant bodies, enabling safe interactions with humans and adaptability to unpredictable environments. However, most of them have limited actuation speeds, require…
Manipulating fragile objects in environments such as homes and factories requires stable and gentle grasping along with precise and safe placement. Compared to traditional rigid grippers, the use of soft grippers reduces the control…
Soft robots achieve functionality through tight coupling among geometry, material composition, and actuation. As a result, effective design optimization requires these three aspects to be considered jointly rather than in isolation. This…
Sensory feedback is essential for the control of soft robotic systems and to enable deployment in a variety of different tasks. Proprioception refers to sensing the robot's own state and is of crucial importance in order to deploy soft…
Deep learning and reinforcement learning methods have been shown to enable learning of flexible and complex robot controllers. However, the reliance on large amounts of training data often requires data collection to be carried out in…
Incorporating touch as a sensing modality for robots can enable finer and more robust manipulation skills. Existing tactile sensors are either flat, have small sensitive fields or only provide low-resolution signals. In this paper, we…
Tactile perception is an essential ability of intelligent robots in interaction with their surrounding environments. This perception as an intermediate level acts between sensation and action and has to be defined properly to generate…
Tactile sensing in biological organisms is deeply intertwined with morphological form, such as human fingers, cat paws, and elephant trunks, which enables rich and adaptive interactions through a variety of geometrically complex structures.…
Increasing the performance of tactile sensing in robots enables versatile, in-hand manipulation. Vision-based tactile sensors have been widely used as rich tactile feedback has been shown to be correlated with increased performance in…