Tactile sensor for human-like manipulation

Abstract

In this paper the tactile sensor <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sup> recently developed by the authors is experimentally tested in manipulation applications typical of anthropomorphic robotic systems. The paper presents a possible solution for the integration of the sensor in a human-like robotic hand. The device is suitable also for prosthetic applications thanks to its compact size, low-power and low-cost. The sensor has been designed to work as force/torque sensor and as spatial tactile sensor at the same time. To demonstrate these capabilities, it is used for the estimation of the friction coefficient between the sensor itself and the object to manipulate. Then, this estimated coefficient is used in a feedback control system to implement a manipulation task avoiding object slippage.