Design, optimization, calibration, and a case study of a 3D-printed, low-cost fingertip sensor for robotic manipulation

We describe a low-cost 3-axis fingertip force sensor for robotic manipulation. Our design makes the most of 3D printing technology, and takes important factors such as maintainability and modification into consideration. The resulting sensor features a detachable fingertip made of 3D-printed materials, and a cantilever mechanism that allows the detection of contact forces via three off-the-shelf, low-cost force sensors. To improve our design concept, optimization on the configuration of the fingertip sensor is performed under statistical analysis of the hysteresis performance. The optimized fingertip sensor is experimentally investigated and calibrated. At the end, through a case-study, we demonstrate that our proposed design can measure the direction of contact forces in the radial plane of the fingertip sensor.