Elastic Tactile Sensor Glove for Dexterous Teaching by Demonstration

Abstract

We present a thin and elastic tactile sensor glove for teaching dexterous manipulation tasks to robots through human demonstration. The entire glove, including the sensor cells, base layer, and electrical connections, is made from soft and stretchable silicone rubber, adapting to deformations under bending and contact while preserving human dexterity. We develop a glove design with five fingers and a palm sensor, revise material formulations for reduced thickness, faster processing and lower cost, adapt manufacturing processes for reduced layer thickness, and design readout electronics for improved sensitivity and battery operation. We further address integration with a multi-camera system and motion reconstruction, wireless communication, and data processing to obtain multimodal reconstructions of human manipulation skills.