Force Characteristics for Fine Deformation of CMC Touch Sensor and Estimation of Force Variance Using Hybrid Tactile Sensor System

Takuya Kawamura; Ko Nejigane; Kazuo Tani; Hironao Yamada

doi:10.20965/jrm.2012.p0423

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JRM Vol.24 No.3 pp. 423-429

doi: 10.20965/jrm.2012.p0423

(2012)

Paper:

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Force Characteristics for Fine Deformation of CMC Touch Sensor and Estimation of Force Variance Using Hybrid Tactile Sensor System

Takuya Kawamura, Ko Nejigane, Kazuo Tani, and Hironao Yamada

Department of Human and Information Systems, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193, Japan

Received:

May 2, 2011

Accepted:

December 1, 2011

Published:

June 20, 2012

Keywords:

hybrid tactile sensor system, carbon microcoil (CMC) touch sensor, silicon rubber sensor element, robot hand, gripping

Abstract

Having previously proposed a hybrid tactile sensor system consisting of a Carbon Micro-Coil (CMC) touch sensor and a force sensor, the authors have been developing a method of measuring deformation of micrometer order, force variance of 10 gram order, and compression force when an object touches a sensor element and moves slightly. In this paper, to measure the force variance for deformation of several micrometers using the CMC touch sensor, the force characteristics of the CMC touch sensor are investigated. The CMC sensor element is made of silicon rubber containing CMCs several micrometers in diameter. It is considered that the sensor element constitutes an LCR circuit, and the CMC touch sensor, deformed mechanically, produces signals due to the modification of the circuit. In the experiment detailed in this paper, to clarify the characteristics of the CMC sensor with respect to the parameters of force and deformation, the outputs of the CMC sensor and the force sensor for deformation in the range of 1 to 9 µm are sampled. As a result, it is found that the force characteristics of the CMC touch sensor are almost linear in terms of force variance within the range of 0 to 1 N, regardless of a compression force of less than 3 N. Finally, to evaluate the performance of the sensor system, force variance for a slight movement of an object touching the sensor element is estimated in an experiment.

Cite this article as:

T. Kawamura, K. Nejigane, K. Tani, and H. Yamada, “Force Characteristics for Fine Deformation of CMC Touch Sensor and Estimation of Force Variance Using Hybrid Tactile Sensor System,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.24 No.3, pp. 423-429, 2012.

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References

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[14] K. Nejigane, T. Kawamura, and K. Tani, “Relationship between force and output of CMC touch sensor for fine deformation,” Proc. 58th Annual Conf. of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Tokai Branch, pp. 219-220, 2009 (in Japanese).
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This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.

[1] [1] C. Kuzuya, A. Ueda, and K. Kawabe, “Application of CMC to tactile sensor,” Materials Integration, Vol.17, No.8, pp. 9-16, 2004 (in Japanese).

[2] [2] M. Homma, H. Morita, T. Maeno, M. Konyo, and S. Motojima, “Electromechanical conversion mechanism of a tactile sensor using carbon micro coil inside an elastic material,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.18, No.3, pp. 235-241, 2006.

[3] [3] M. K. Johnson and E. H. Adelson, “Retrographic sensing for the measurement of surface texture and shape,” Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), pp. 1070-1077, 2009.

[4] [4] Y. Ito, Y. Kim, and G. Obinata, “Slippage degree estimation by using vision-based tactile sensor for dexterous handling,” Proc. 9th IFAC Symp. on Robot Control, pp. 403-408, 2009.

[5] [5] S. Saga, M. Konyo, and K. Deguchi, “Comparison of spatial and temporal characteristic between reflection-type tactile sensor and human cutaneous sensation,” Proc. 18th IEEE Int. Symp. on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN2009), pp. 22-27, 2009.

[6] [6] Y. Kato, T. Hayakawa, and T. Mukai, “Soft Areal Tactile Sensor Using Tomography Algorithm,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.20, No.4, pp. 628-633, 2008.

[7] [7] M. Ohka, Y. Mitsuya, Y. Matsunaga, and S. Takeuchi, “Sensing characteristics of an optical three-axis tactile sensor under combined loading,” Robotica, Vol.22, pp. 213-221, 2004.

[8] [8] H. Yussof, N. Morisawa, J. Wada, and M. Ohka, “Handling capabilities of two robot hands equipped with optical three-axis tactile sensor,” Proc. 18th IEEE Int. Symp. on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN2009), pp. 165-170, 2009.

[9] [9] K. Kamiyama, K. Vlack, H. Kajimoto, N. Kawakami, and S. Tachi, “Vision-based sensor for real-time measuring of surface traction fields,” IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Vol.25, No.1, pp. 68-75, 2005.

[10] [10] K. Sato, K. Kamiyama, N. Kawakami, and S. Tachi, “Finger-shaped GelForce: sensor for measuring surface traction fields for robotic hand,” IEEE Trans. on Haptics, Vol.3, No.1, pp. 37-47, 2010.

[11] [11] S. Teshigawara, K. Tadakuma, A. Ming, M. Ishikawa, and M. Shimojo, “Development of high-sensitivity slip sensor using special characteristics of pressure conductive rubber,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2009), pp. 3289-3294, 2009.

[12] [12] S. Teshigawara, K. Tadakuma, A. Ming, M. Ishikawa, and M. Shimojo, “High speed and high sensitivity slip sensor utilizing characteristics of conductive rubber – relationship between shear deformation of conductive rubber and resistance change –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.21, No.2, pp. 200-208, 2009.

[13] [13] T. Kawamura, Y. Li, M. Nakanishi, and K. Tani, “Evaluation of CMC touch sensor for fine deformation,” Proc. 25th Annual Conf. of the Robotics Society of Japan, 3O19, 2007 (in Japanese).

[14] [14] K. Nejigane, T. Kawamura, and K. Tani, “Relationship between force and output of CMC touch sensor for fine deformation,” Proc. 58th Annual Conf. of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Tokai Branch, pp. 219-220, 2009 (in Japanese).

[15] [15] T. Kawamura, K. Nejigane, and K. Tani, “Proposal of a Hybrid Tactile Sensor System and its Evaluation Method for Fine Deformation,” Proc. 2010 Int. Symp. on Robotics and Intelligent Sensors (IRIS2010), pp.157-162, 2010.