Title: DenseTact-Mini: An Optical Tactile Sensor for Grasping Multi-Scale Objects From Flat Surfaces
Dexterous manipulation, especially of small daily objects, continues to pose complex challenges in robotics. This paper introduces the DenseTact-Mini, an optical tactile sensor with a soft, rounded, smooth gel surface and compact design equipped with a synthetic fingernail. We propose three distinct grasping strategies: tap grasping using adhesion forces such as electrostatic and van der Waals, fingernail grasping leveraging rolling/sliding contact between the object and fingernail, and fingertip grasping with two soft fingertips. Through comprehensive evaluations, the DenseTact-Mini demonstrates a lifting success rate exceeding 90.2% when grasping various objects, including items such as 1mm basil seeds, thin paperclips, and items larger than 15mm such as bearings. This work demonstrates the potential of soft optical tactile sensors for dexterous manipulation and grasping. more »« less
Bauer, Dominik; Bauer, Cornelia; King, Jonathan P.; Moro, Daniele; Chang, Kai-Hung; Coros, Stelian; Pollard, Nancy
(, International Journal of Humanoid Robotics)
null
(Ed.)
There has been great progress in soft robot design, manufacture, and control in recent years, and soft robots are a tool of choice for safe and robust handling of objects in conditions of uncertainty. Still, dexterous in-hand manipulation using soft robots remains a challenge. This paper introduces foam robot hands actuated by tendons sewn through a fabric glove. The flexibility of tendon actuation allows for high competence in utilizing deformation for robust in-hand manipulation. We discuss manufacturing, control, and design optimization for foam robots and demonstrate robust grasping and in-hand manipulation on a variety of different physical hand prototypes.
The compliant nature of soft fingers allows for safe and dexterous manipulation of objects by humans in an unstructured environment. A soft prosthetic finger design with tactile sensing capabilities for texture discrimination and subsequent sensory stimulation has the potential to create a more natural experience for an amputee. In this work, a pneumatically actuated soft biomimetic finger is integrated with a textile neuromorphic tactile sensor array for a texture discrimination task. The tactile sensor outputs were converted into neuromorphic spike trains, which emulate the firing pattern of biological mechanoreceptors. Spike-based features from each taxel compressed the information and were then used as inputs for the support vector machine classifier to differentiate the textures. Our soft biomimetic finger with neuromorphic encoding was able to achieve an average overall classification accuracy of 99.57% over 16 independent parameters when tested on 13 standardized textured surfaces. The 16 parameters were the combination of 4 angles of flexion of the soft finger and 4 speeds of palpation. To aid in the perception of more natural objects and their manipulation, subjects were provided with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to convey a subset of four textures with varied textural information. Three able-bodied subjects successfully distinguished two or three textures with the applied stimuli. This work paves the way for a more human-like prosthesis through a soft biomimetic finger with texture discrimination capabilities using neuromorphic techniques that provide sensory feedback; furthermore, texture feedback has the potential to enhance user experience when interacting with their surroundings.
Abstract The mechanoreceptors of the human tactile sensory system contribute to natural grasping manipulations in everyday life. However, in the case of robot systems, attempts to emulate humans’ dexterity are still limited by tactile sensory feedback. In this work, a soft optical lightguide is applied as an afferent nerve fiber in a tactile sensory system. A skin‐like soft silicone material is combined with a bristle friction model, which is capable of fast and easy fabrication. Due to this novel design, the soft sensor can provide not only normal force (up to 5 Newtons) but also lateral force information generated by stick‐slip processes. Through a static force test and slip motion test, its ability to measure normal forces and to detect stick‐slip events is demonstrated. Finally, using a robotic gripper, real‐time control applications are investigated where the sensor helps the gripper apply sufficient force to grasp objects without slipping.
Keely, Maya; Kim, Yeunhee; Mehta, Shaunak A; Hoegerman, Joshua; Ramirez_Sanchez, Robert; Paul, Emily; Mills, Camryn; Losey, Dylan P; Bartlett, Michael D
(, Soft Robotics)
For robot arms to perform everyday tasks in unstructured environments, these robots must be able to manipulate a diverse range of objects. Today’s robots often grasp objects with either soft grippers or rigid end-effectors. However, purely rigid or purely soft grippers have fundamental limitations as follows: soft grippers struggle with irregular heavy objects, whereas rigid grippers often cannot grasp small numerous items. In this article, we therefore introduce RISOs, a mechanics and controls approach for unifying traditional RIgid end-effectors with a novel class of SOft adhesives. When grasping an object, RISOs can use either the rigid end-effector (pinching the item between nondeformable fingers) and/or the soft materials (attaching and releasing items with switchable adhesives). This enhances manipulation capabilities by combining and decoupling rigid and soft mechanisms. With RISOs, robots can perform grasps along a spectrum from fully rigid, to fully soft, to rigid-soft, enabling real-time object manipulation across a 1.5 million times range in weight (from 2 mg to 2.9 kg). To develop RISOs, we first model and characterize the soft switchable adhesives. We then mount sheets of these soft adhesives on the surfaces of rigid end-effectors and develop control strategies that make it easier for robot arms and human operators to utilize RISOs. The resulting RISO grippers were able to pick up, carry, and release a larger set of objects than existing grippers, and participants also preferred using RISO. Overall, our experimental and user study results suggest that RISOs provide an exceptional gripper range in both capacity and object diversity.
Shuguang Li, John J.
(, International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA))
Soft robotics has yielded numerous examples of soft grippers that utilize compliance to achieve impressive grasping performances with great simplicity, adaptability, and robustness. Designing soft grippers with substantial grasping strength while remaining compliant and gentle is one of the most important challenges in this field. In this paper, we present a light-weight, vacuum-driven soft robotic gripper made of an origami “magic-ball” and a flexible thin membrane. We also describe the design and fabrication method to rapidly manufacture the gripper with different combinations of low- cost materials for diverse applications. Grasping experiments demonstrate that our gripper can lift a large variety of objects, including delicate foods, heavy bottles, and other miscellaneous items. The grasp force on 3D-printed objects is also characterized through mechanical load tests. The results reveal that our soft gripper can produce significant grasp force on various shapes using negative pneumatic pressure (vacuum). This new gripper holds the potential for many practical applications that require safe, strong, and simple grasping.
Do, Won Kyung, Kundan_Dhawan, Ankush, Kitzmann, Mathilda, and Kennedy, Monroe. DenseTact-Mini: An Optical Tactile Sensor for Grasping Multi-Scale Objects From Flat Surfaces. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10564702. Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation . Web. doi:10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10610583.
Do, Won Kyung, Kundan_Dhawan, Ankush, Kitzmann, Mathilda, & Kennedy, Monroe. DenseTact-Mini: An Optical Tactile Sensor for Grasping Multi-Scale Objects From Flat Surfaces. Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, (). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10564702. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10610583
Do, Won Kyung, Kundan_Dhawan, Ankush, Kitzmann, Mathilda, and Kennedy, Monroe.
"DenseTact-Mini: An Optical Tactile Sensor for Grasping Multi-Scale Objects From Flat Surfaces". Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (). Country unknown/Code not available: IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10610583.https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10564702.
@article{osti_10564702,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {DenseTact-Mini: An Optical Tactile Sensor for Grasping Multi-Scale Objects From Flat Surfaces},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10564702},
DOI = {10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10610583},
abstractNote = {Dexterous manipulation, especially of small daily objects, continues to pose complex challenges in robotics. This paper introduces the DenseTact-Mini, an optical tactile sensor with a soft, rounded, smooth gel surface and compact design equipped with a synthetic fingernail. We propose three distinct grasping strategies: tap grasping using adhesion forces such as electrostatic and van der Waals, fingernail grasping leveraging rolling/sliding contact between the object and fingernail, and fingertip grasping with two soft fingertips. Through comprehensive evaluations, the DenseTact-Mini demonstrates a lifting success rate exceeding 90.2% when grasping various objects, including items such as 1mm basil seeds, thin paperclips, and items larger than 15mm such as bearings. This work demonstrates the potential of soft optical tactile sensors for dexterous manipulation and grasping.},
journal = {Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation},
publisher = {IEEE},
author = {Do, Won Kyung and Kundan_Dhawan, Ankush and Kitzmann, Mathilda and Kennedy, Monroe},
}
Warning: Leaving National Science Foundation Website
You are now leaving the National Science Foundation website to go to a non-government website.
Website:
NSF takes no responsibility for and exercises no control over the views expressed or the accuracy of
the information contained on this site. Also be aware that NSF's privacy policy does not apply to this site.