The TacTip Family: Soft Optical Tactile Sensors with 3D-Printed Biomimetic Morphologies

Benjamin Ward-Cherrier; Nicholas Pestell; Luke Cramphorn; Benjamin Winstone; Maria Elena Giannaccini; Jonathan Rossiter; Nathan F. Lepora

doi:10.1089/soro.2017.0052

The TacTip Family: Soft Optical Tactile Sensors with 3D-Printed Biomimetic Morphologies

Benjamin Ward-Cherrier^*, Nicholas Pestell, Luke Cramphorn, Benjamin Winstone, Maria Elena Giannaccini, Jonathan Rossiter, Nathan F. Lepora

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

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Abstract

Tactile sensing is an essential component in human-robot interaction and object manipulation. Soft sensors allow for safe interaction and improved gripping performance. Here we present the TacTip family of sensors: a range of soft optical tactile sensors with various morphologies fabricated through dual-material 3D printing. All of these sensors are inspired by the same biomimetic design principle: transducing deformation of the sensing surface via movement of pins analogous to the function of intermediate ridges within the human fingertip. The performance of the TacTip, TacTip-GR2, TacTip-M2, and TacCylinder sensors is here evaluated and shown to attain submillimeter accuracy on a rolling cylinder task, representing greater than 10-fold super-resolved acuity. A version of the TacTip sensor has also been open-sourced, enabling other laboratories to adopt it as a platform for tactile sensing and manipulation research. These sensors are suitable for real-world applications in tactile perception, exploration, and manipulation, and will enable further research and innovation in the field of soft tactile sensing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	216-227
Number of pages	12
Journal	Soft Robotics
Volume	5
Issue number	2
Early online date	3 Jan 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1089/soro.2017.0052 https://doi.org/10.1089/soro.2017.0052
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2018

Research Groups and Themes

Tactile Action Perception

Keywords

dexterous manipulation
soft sensors
tactile sensors

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Final published version, 1.2 MBLicence: CC BY

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title = "The TacTip Family: Soft Optical Tactile Sensors with 3D-Printed Biomimetic Morphologies",

abstract = "Tactile sensing is an essential component in human-robot interaction and object manipulation. Soft sensors allow for safe interaction and improved gripping performance. Here we present the TacTip family of sensors: a range of soft optical tactile sensors with various morphologies fabricated through dual-material 3D printing. All of these sensors are inspired by the same biomimetic design principle: transducing deformation of the sensing surface via movement of pins analogous to the function of intermediate ridges within the human fingertip. The performance of the TacTip, TacTip-GR2, TacTip-M2, and TacCylinder sensors is here evaluated and shown to attain submillimeter accuracy on a rolling cylinder task, representing greater than 10-fold super-resolved acuity. A version of the TacTip sensor has also been open-sourced, enabling other laboratories to adopt it as a platform for tactile sensing and manipulation research. These sensors are suitable for real-world applications in tactile perception, exploration, and manipulation, and will enable further research and innovation in the field of soft tactile sensing.",

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author = "Benjamin Ward-Cherrier and Nicholas Pestell and Luke Cramphorn and Benjamin Winstone and Giannaccini, {Maria Elena} and Jonathan Rossiter and Lepora, {Nathan F.}",

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AU - Cramphorn, Luke

AU - Winstone, Benjamin

AU - Giannaccini, Maria Elena

AU - Rossiter, Jonathan

AU - Lepora, Nathan F.

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N2 - Tactile sensing is an essential component in human-robot interaction and object manipulation. Soft sensors allow for safe interaction and improved gripping performance. Here we present the TacTip family of sensors: a range of soft optical tactile sensors with various morphologies fabricated through dual-material 3D printing. All of these sensors are inspired by the same biomimetic design principle: transducing deformation of the sensing surface via movement of pins analogous to the function of intermediate ridges within the human fingertip. The performance of the TacTip, TacTip-GR2, TacTip-M2, and TacCylinder sensors is here evaluated and shown to attain submillimeter accuracy on a rolling cylinder task, representing greater than 10-fold super-resolved acuity. A version of the TacTip sensor has also been open-sourced, enabling other laboratories to adopt it as a platform for tactile sensing and manipulation research. These sensors are suitable for real-world applications in tactile perception, exploration, and manipulation, and will enable further research and innovation in the field of soft tactile sensing.

AB - Tactile sensing is an essential component in human-robot interaction and object manipulation. Soft sensors allow for safe interaction and improved gripping performance. Here we present the TacTip family of sensors: a range of soft optical tactile sensors with various morphologies fabricated through dual-material 3D printing. All of these sensors are inspired by the same biomimetic design principle: transducing deformation of the sensing surface via movement of pins analogous to the function of intermediate ridges within the human fingertip. The performance of the TacTip, TacTip-GR2, TacTip-M2, and TacCylinder sensors is here evaluated and shown to attain submillimeter accuracy on a rolling cylinder task, representing greater than 10-fold super-resolved acuity. A version of the TacTip sensor has also been open-sourced, enabling other laboratories to adopt it as a platform for tactile sensing and manipulation research. These sensors are suitable for real-world applications in tactile perception, exploration, and manipulation, and will enable further research and innovation in the field of soft tactile sensing.

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The TacTip Family: Soft Optical Tactile Sensors with 3D-Printed Biomimetic Morphologies

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Research Groups and Themes

Keywords

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A biomimetic forebrain for robot touch