Sensing grasp force using active acoustic sensing

Abstract

We present an active acoustic sensing technique for sensing grasp force. With this technique, using machine learning, an existing solid object can be made grasp-sensitive by attaching a vibration speaker and a contact microphone to the object. After learning, the technique estimates how the object is grasped, along with the grasp force. Our technique estimates the grasp force based on the change in the resonant frequency response of an object with the strength of the grasp: the steepness and power of the response generally decrease when thejapa grasp force increases.