Grasping with Tactile Feedback
Goal: Develop a tactile sensing manipulator with the ability to manipulate
unknown objects.
The most complex part of this problem is the development of sensor
interpretation techniques that lead to reliable estimates of contact
location, force, and indenter shape. The availability of this information
simplifies the dextrous hand control problem.
Previous Results
- Analysis of the map from indenter shape to sub-surface strain.
- Construction of tactile sensing mechanisms that allow measurement
of strain to 0.1% (1 % of typical peak strain.)
- Contact parameter estimation by nonlinear optimization.
- Integration of sensing into grasping.
Future Directions
- Improved tactile finger construction techniques to allow
a more uniform sensor response.
Papers
Sensing Capabilities of Linear Elastic Cylindrical Fingers,
E. Nicolson and R. Fearing,
In Proceedings, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems'93,
Yokohama, Japan, pp. 178-185, July 1993.
The Reliability of Curvature Estimates from Linear Elastic Tactile Sensors,
E. Nicolson and R. Fearing,
Presented at the 1995 IEEE International Conference on
Robotics and Automation,
Nagoya, Japan, May 1995
Fourier Analysis of the Bandlimited Shape Estimation Problem
in Tactile Sensing,
E. Nicolson and R. Fearing,
Internal Memo, October 1994
Tactile Sensing and Control of a Planar Manipulator
E. Nicolson
Ph.D. Thesis, University of California at Berkeley, November 1994.
(5MB uncompressed postscript version)
See also:
"Basic Solid Mechanics for Tactile Sensing,"
R.S. Fearing and J.M. Hollerbach,
Int. Journal of Robotics Research, vol. 4, number 3, Fall, 1985, pp. 40-54
"Tactile Sensing Mechanisms,"
R. S. Fearing,
Int. Journal of Robotics Research, vol. 9, number 3, June, 1990, pp. 3-23
Ed Nicolson's home page
Last update: 29 July 1995