Tactile Sensors for Parallel Grippers: Design and Characterization

Tactile data perception is of paramount importance in today's robotics applications. This paper describes the latest design of the tactile sensor developed in our laboratory. Both the hardware and firmware concepts are reported in detail in order to allow the research community the sensor repro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-03, Vol.21 (5), p.1915
Main Authors: Cirillo, Andrea, Costanzo, Marco, Laudante, Gianluca, Pirozzi, Salvatore
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automation
Design
Design standards
dexterous manipulation
Firmware
Flat surfaces
Grippers
Light emitting diodes
Manufacturing engineering
Optoelectronic devices
Prostheses
Response time
Robotics
sensor characterization
Sensors
Signal to noise ratio
tactile sensing
Tactile sensors (robotics)
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Summary:Tactile data perception is of paramount importance in today's robotics applications. This paper describes the latest design of the tactile sensor developed in our laboratory. Both the hardware and firmware concepts are reported in detail in order to allow the research community the sensor reproduction, also according to their needs. The sensor is based on optoelectronic technology and the pad shape can be adapted to various robotics applications. A flat surface, as the one proposed in this paper, can be well exploited if the object sizes are smaller than the pad and/or the shape recognition is needed, while a domed pad can be used to manipulate bigger objects. Compared to the previous version, the novel tactile sensor has a larger sensing area and a more robust electronic, mechanical and software design that yields less noise and higher flexibility. The proposed design exploits standard PCB manufacturing processes and advanced but now commercial 3D printing processes for the realization of all components. A GitHub repository has been prepared with all files needed to allow the reproduction of the sensor for the interested reader. The whole sensor has been tested with a maximum load equal to 15N, by showing a sensitivity equal to 0.018V/N. Moreover, a complete and detailed characterization for the single taxel and the whole pad is reported to show the potentialities of the sensor also in terms of response time, repeatability, hysteresis and signal to noise ratio.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s21051915