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Tactile Sensing

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Humanoid Robotics: A Reference

Abstract

Research on tactile sensing has been progressing at constant pace. In robotics, tactile sensing is typically studied in the context of object grasping and manipulation. In this domain, the development of robust, multimodal, tactile sensors for robotic hands has supported the study of novel algorithms for in-hand object manipulation, material classification, and object perception. In the field of humanoid robotics, research has focused on solving the challenges that allow developing systems of tactile sensors that can cover large areas of the robot body and can integrate different types of transducers to measure pressure at various frequency bands, acceleration, and temperature. The availability of such systems has extended the application of tactile sensing to whole-body control, autonomous calibration, self-perception, and human-robot interaction. The goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the technologies for tactile sensing, with particular emphasis on the systems that have been deployed on humanoid robots. We describe the skills that have been implemented with the adoption of these technologies and discuss the main challenges that remain to be addressed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. iCub Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy

    Lorenzo Natale

  2. DIBRIS, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genova, Italy

    Giorgio Cannata

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  1. Lorenzo Natale
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  2. Giorgio Cannata
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Correspondence to Lorenzo Natale .

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  1. Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA, USA

    Ambarish Goswami

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Prahlad Vadakkepat

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Natale, L., Cannata, G. (2019). Tactile Sensing. In: Goswami, A., Vadakkepat, P. (eds) Humanoid Robotics: A Reference. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6046-2_110

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