Signal processing for slip and contact sensing and its application to a two-fingered robotic hand

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Sasaki, Ken^{; *} | Hirota, Terunao | Fujikake, Yoshinori | Nakaki, Hiroyuki

Affiliations: Department of Precision Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 3 5841 6452; Fax: +81 3 5841 8556; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: Signal processing for slip and contact sensing for a robotic tactile sensor is presented. Small strips of piezoelectric film (PVDF) were embedded in the fingertip of a robotic finger made of silicon rubber. The sensor detected the vibration caused by slip and contact. A short impulsive vibration was generated when the finger made contact with an object, and a random noise-like signal was observed when slip occurred at the fingertip. Slip was differentiated from contact by counting the number of peaks in the waveform within a 6.4~ms interval. This non-linear filtering method was shown to be more effective than ordinary frequency domain filtering. Several experiments using the two-fingered robotic hand are presented to demonstrate the importance of slip sensing in manipulative motion.

Keywords: tactile sensor, slip sensing, manipulation, robotic hand

DOI: 10.3233/ICA-2001-8401

Journal: Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 283-291, 2001