Calibration of embedded force sensor for robotic hand manipulation

Abstract

This paper discusses the calibration of two-axis force sensors which were embedded into the fingertip of a three-fingered robot hand. In a previous work, a functioning prototype of the three-fingered robot hand has been successfully developed. However, the performance of the robot hand for grasping was insufficient. Therefore, the improved design fingertip was developed to enhance the existing design by incorporating force sensing ability for better grasping task. Two miniature load cells button were fitted into the fingertip to enable force sensing in two individual directions namely x-axis and z-axis. The calibration is implemented in both axes. The calibration results proved that the linearity calibration is relevant to be used as the reference force for force control development in the next phase.