Advances in fibrillar on-off polymer adhesive: Sensing and engagement speed

ON-OFF adhesives can benefit manufacturing and space applications by providing the capability to selectively anchor two surfaces together repeatedly and releasably without significant preload. Two key areas of concern are speed of engagement and sensing the quality of that engagement. Here we describe a dual-purpose proximity and tactile sensor for the contact surfaces of robotic systems. Using infrared emitters and combinations of wide and narrow angle detectors, this device combines proximity and force sensing to seamlessly transition from a pre-contact to contact state. As an inherently low-power device, it is amenable to mobile robotic applications. We also present results showing this engagement can occur very rapidly, making it useful in high-throughput manufacturing and dexterous manipulation tasks.