Contact Behavior of Soft Spherical Tactile Sensors

Author

Youssefian, Sina ; Rahbar, Nima ; Torres-Jara, Eduardo

Author_Institution

Mech. Eng. Dept., Worcester Polytech. Inst., Worcester, MA, USA

Volume

14

Issue

5

fYear

2014

fDate

May-14

Firstpage

1435

Lastpage

1442

Abstract

In this paper, we studied a compliant tactile sensor with a spherical shell geometry. This bioinspired sensor has been successfully tested in actual robots whose behaviors are guided by tactile feedback. A model of the sensor was developed to study the contact response of the sensor to objects with different geometries. The sensor response is the estimation of both, normal and shear forces (3-D vector). The model was validated using experimental data and used to predict the behavior of sensors with different radii. This information allows us to design sensors with different sizes according to the requirements of a given robotic application.

Keywords

feedback; force measurement; force sensors; tactile sensors; 3D vector estimation; bioinspired sensor; contact behavior; normal force estimation; robotic application; shear force estimation; soft spherical tactile sensor; spherical shell geometry; tactile feedback; Force; Materials; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Tactile sensors; Bioinspired; contact mechanics; finite element model; soft materials; soft robotics; tactile sensor;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2013.2296208

Filename

6691907