Force sensing with a biomimetic fingertip

Abstract

Advanced tactile capabilities could help new generations of robots work co-operatively with people in a wider sphere than these devices have hitherto experienced. Robots could perform autonomous manipulation tasks and exploration of their environment. These applications require a thorough characterisation of the force measurement capabilities of tactile sensors. For this reason, this work focuses on the characterisation of the force envelope of the biomimetic, low-cost and robust TacTip sensor. Comparison with a traditional load cell shows that when identifying low forces and changes in position the TacTip proves significantly less noisy.