Projects per year
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 | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2018 |
Research Groups and Themes
- Tactile Action Perception
Keywords
- dexterous manipulation
- soft sensors
- tactile sensors
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'The TacTip Family: Soft Optical Tactile Sensors with 3D-Printed Biomimetic Morphologies'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
-
A biomimetic forebrain for robot touch
Lepora, N. F. (Principal Investigator)
1/04/17 → 30/06/24
Project: Research
Datasets
-
The TacTip Family: Soft Optical Tactile Sensors with 3D-Printed Biomimetic Morphologies
Ward-Cherrier, B. (Creator), Pestell, N. (Creator), Cramphorn, L. (Creator), Winstons, B. (Creator), Giannaccini, M.-E. (Creator), Rossiter, J. (Creator), Lepora, N. (Creator) & Lepora, N. (Data Manager), University of Bristol, 8 Feb 2018
DOI: 10.5523/bris.1dqagvogn7fec247z4pms7zypi, http://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/1dqagvogn7fec247z4pms7zypi
Dataset
Profiles
-
Professor Nathan F Lepora
- School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology - Professor of Robotics and AI
Person: Academic , Member
-
Mr Ben Ward-Cherrier
- School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology - Senior Lecturer
Person: Academic