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Design, Fabrication and Applications on Novel Tactile Sensors

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Dr. Pejman Heidarian

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Carbon Nexus at the Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VI 3216, Australia
Interests: nanocomposites; self-healing hydrogels; tactile sensors; carbon fibers; nanocellulose

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Dear Colleagues,

Due to its promising applications in industry and biomedical engineering, smart tactile sensing systems based on a variety of sensing modalities have been developed in recent decades. Despite their potential, smart tactile sensing technologies and systems are still in their infancy because of the numerous technical and system difficulties that have yet to be overcome and will need substantial multidisciplinary efforts to address. Hence, it still demands significant efforts from a wide range of disciplines, not only for the development of sophisticated tactile sensors, but also of adequate algorithms to deal with the data that has been gathered. This special issue therefore aims to put together original research and review articles on recent advances, technologies, solutions, applications on Design, Fabrication and Applications on Novel Tactile.

Dr. Pejman Heidarian
Guest Editor

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Keywords

smart tactile sensing
machine learning
microfabrication
sensor fusion
optical tactile sensors
piezoelectric tactile sensors
materials for tactile sensing

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25 pages, 4711 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of a Novel Optical Six-Axis Distributed Force and Displacement Tactile Sensor for Dexterous Robotic Manipulation

by Olivia Leslie, David Córdova Bulens and Stephen J. Redmond

Sensors 2023, 23(24), 9640; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23249640 - 5 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1827

Abstract

Real-time multi-axis distributed tactile sensing is a critical capability if robots are to perform stable gripping and dexterous manipulation, as it provides crucial information about the sensor–object interface. In this paper, we present an optical-based six-axis tactile sensor designed in a fingertip shape for robotic dexterous manipulation. The distributed sensor can precisely estimate the local XYZ force and displacement at ten distinct locations and provide the global XYZ force and torque measurements. Its compact size, comparable to that of a human thumb, and minimal thickness allow seamless integration onto existing robotic fingers, eliminating the need for complex modifications to the gripper. The proposed sensor design uses a simple, low-cost fabrication method. Moreover, the optical transduction approach uses light angle and intensity sensing to infer force and displacement from deformations of the individual sensing units that form the overall sensor, providing distributed six-axis sensing. The local force precision at each sensing unit in the X, Y, and Z axes is 20.89 mN, 19.19 mN, and 43.22 mN, respectively, over a local force range of approximately ±1.5 N in X and Y and 0 to −2 N in Z. The local displacement precision in the X, Y, and Z axes is 56.70 μm, 50.18 μm, and 13.83 μm, respectively, over a local displacement range of ±2 mm in the XY directions and 0 to −1.5 mm in Z (i.e., compression). Additionally, the sensor can measure global torques,

T_{x}

T_{y}

, and

T_{z}

, with a precision of of 1.90 N-mm, 1.54 N-mm, and 1.26 N-mm, respectively. The fabricated design is showcased by integrating it with an OnRobot RG2 gripper and illustrating real-time measurements during in simple demonstration task, which generated changing global forces and torques. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design, Fabrication and Applications on Novel Tactile Sensors)

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