Soft computing-based robust contact/non-contact detection during serving a drink task

This paper presents a novel application of fuzzy logic in the field of rehabilitation robots. This soft computing-based approach is utilized for the task of serving a drink to a person, to determine whether contact between the person´s mouth and the drinking glass has occurred. The decision is based on force sensor data, which are pre-processed before being applied for decision-making. The design or decisionmaking is accomplished by means of force information as well as the first and second differential of the force. The results demonstrate that the detection algorithm is of high reliability and robustness under various environmental conditions.