Related papers: Audio-Based Tactile Human-Robot Interaction Recogn…
General robot manipulation requires the handling of previously unseen objects. Learning a physically accurate model at test time can provide significant benefits in data efficiency, predictability, and reuse between tasks. Tactile sensing…
The manipulation of large objects and safe operation in the vicinity of humans are key capabilities of a general purpose domestic robotic assistant. We present the design of a soft, tactile-sensing humanoid upper-body robot and demonstrate…
High-resolution optical tactile sensors are increasingly used in robotic learning environments due to their ability to capture large amounts of data directly relating to agent-environment interaction. However, there is a high barrier of…
Acoustic Soft Tactile (AST) skin is a novel sensing technology which derives tactile information from the modulation of acoustic waves travelling through the skin's embedded acoustic channels. A generalisable data-driven calibration model…
Humans use all of their senses to accomplish different tasks in everyday activities. In contrast, existing work on robotic manipulation mostly relies on one, or occasionally two modalities, such as vision and touch. In this work, we…
Typical contact detection is based on the monitoring of a threshold value in the force and torque signals. The selection of a threshold is challenging for robots operating in unstructured or highly dynamic environments, such in a household…
Tactile sensing is a essential for skilled manipulation and object perception, but existing devices are unable to capture mechanical signals in the full gamut of regimes that are important for human touch sensing, and are unable to emulate…
People with visual impairments face numerous challenges when interacting with their environment. Our objective is to develop a device that facilitates communication between individuals with visual impairments and their surroundings. The…
Collocated tactile sensing is a fundamental enabling technology for dexterous manipulation. However, deformable sensors introduce complex dynamics between the robot, grasped object, and environment that must be considered for fine…
We present a tactile sensing method enabled by the mechanical compliance of soft robots; an externally attachable photoreflective module reads surface deformation of silicone skin to estimate contact force without embedding tactile…
Millions of people around the world face motor impairments due to Parkinson's, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other physical disabilities. The goal of this project is to increase the usable surface-area of devices for users with…
This paper aims to present an innovative and cost-effective design for Acoustic Soft Tactile (AST) Skin, with the primary goal of significantly enhancing the accuracy of 2-D tactile feature estimation. The existing challenge lies in…
Tactile sensing is critical to fine-grained, contact-rich manipulation tasks, such as insertion and assembly. Prior research has shown the possibility of learning tactile-guided policy from teleoperated demonstration data. However, to…
Contact-rich manipulation tasks in agriculture, such as pruning and harvesting, require robots to physically interact with tree structures to maneuver through cluttered foliage. Identifying whether the robot is contacting rigid or soft…
This report presents the experimental methodology and a step-by-step guide for gathering data on how aging influences tactile surface perception in decision and action. The experiments consist of a set of trials in which the ability to…
During daily activities, humans use their hands to grasp surrounding objects and perceive sensory information which are also employed for perceptual and motor goals. Multiple cortical brain regions are known to be responsible for sensory…
As robotic arms become prevalent in industry it is crucial to improve levels of trust from human collaborators. Low levels of trust in human-robot interaction can reduce overall performance and prevent full robot utilization. We…
Human interaction involves very sophisticated non-verbal communication skills like understanding the goals and actions of others and coordinating our own actions accordingly. Neuroscience refers to this mechanism as motor resonance, in the…
Hardness is among the most important attributes of an object that humans learn about through touch. However, approaches for robots to estimate hardness are limited, due to the lack of information provided by current tactile sensors. In this…
This work contributes to the development of active haptic exploration strategies of surfaces using robotic hands in environments with an unknown structure. The architecture of the proposed approach consists two main Bayesian models,…