Development of a Distributed Stretchable 3-axis Sensing System

• Project/Area Number: 21K14131
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 20020:Robotics and intelligent system-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: トモ ティト・プラドノ 早稲田大学, 次世代ロボット研究機構, 次席研究員(研究院講師) (00844193)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2023)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,550,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,050,000); Fiscal Year 2022: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000); Fiscal Year 2021: ¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
• Keywords: stretchable / 3-axis / tactile sensor / tactil / skin / sensor / soft / 3-axis tactile sensor / Stretchable electronics / Robotics

Outline of Research at the Start

The existing tactile sensors are typically not stretchable, and therefore can not fully cover all robot parts, especially the joints. In this research we suggest to develop them further to the world’s first stretchable 3-axis tactile sensing system.

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

In the current fiscal year, significant improvements have been made to the stretchable 3-axis tactile sensor, enhancing its robustness and performance. This version utilizes a novel approach by stitching four copper wires (VDD/power, SCL/clock, SDA/data bus, and GND/ground) into a stretchable fabric with a zig-zag pattern, allowing for the daisy-chaining of multiple hall-effect sensors. As a result, the sensor achieves a stretch rate increase of 250%. Moreover, this version of the sensor demonstrates a notable improvement in stretch-cycle durability, exceeding 1000 cycles. This advancement enables the successful mounting of the sensors onto the Allegro Hand, effectively covering one of its joints.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] A Robotic Grasping State Perception Framework with Multi-Phase Tactile Information and Ensemble Learning (2022)
  • Author(s): Gang Yan, Alexander Schmitz, Satoshi Funabashi, Sophon Somlor, Tito Pradhono Tomo, Shigeki Sugano
  • Journal Title: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Volume: PP Issue: 3 Pages: 1-1
  • DOI: 10.1109/lra.2022.3151260
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] FingerTac -An Interchangeable and Wearable Tactile Sensor for the Fingertips of Human and Robot Hands (2023)
  • Author(s): Prathamesh Sathe , Alexander Schmitz, Tito Pradhono Tomo, Sophon Somlor, Satoshi Funabashi and Sugano Shigeki
  • Organizer: IROS 2023
• [Presentation] Vision-Touch Fusion for Predicting Grasping Stability using Self Attention and Past Visual Images (2023)
  • Author(s): Gang Yan , ZHIDA QIN, Satoshi Funabashi , Alexander Schmitz, Tito Pradhono Tomo, Sophon Somlor, Lorenzo Jamone, Shigeki Sugano
  • Organizer: ICDL 2023
• [Presentation] Geometric Transformation: Tactile Data Augmentation for Robotic Learning (2023)
  • Author(s): Gang Yan , Yuyeol Jun, Satoshi Funabashi , Tito Pradhono Tomo, Sophon Somlor, Alexander Schmitz, Shigeki Sugano
  • Organizer: ICDL 2023
• [Presentation] 伸縮性を有する3軸触覚センサuSkinの開発 (2022)
  • Author(s): 高瀬祥，T.P.TOMO，Somlor SOPHON，Alexander SCHMITZ，菅野重樹
  • Organizer: 第23回計測自動制御学会システムインテグレーション部門講演会
• [Presentation] Participatory Design and Early Deployment of DarumaTO-3 Social Robot (2022)
  • Author(s): Zhihao Shen, Nanaka Urano, Chih-Pu Chen, Shi Feng, Scean Mitchell, Masao Katagiri, Yegang Du, Franco Pariasca Trevejo, Tito P Tomo, Alexander Schmitz, Ryan Browne, Toshimi Ogawa, Yasuyuki Taki, Gabriele Trovato
  • Organizer: ICSR 2022
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Detection of Slip from Vision and Touch (2022)
  • Author(s): Yan, G., Schmitz, A., Tomo, T. P., Somlor, S., Funabashi, S., Sugano, S.
  • Organizer: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation（ 国際学会）
• [Presentation] “Safe Skin” - A Low-Cost Capacitive Proximity-Force-Fusion Sensor For Safety in Robots (2021)
  • Author(s): Wang, Z., Gao, H., Schmitz, A., Somlor, S., Tomo, T.P., Sugano, S.
  • Organizer: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems（ 国際学会）
• [Presentation] SCT-CNN: A Spatio-Channel-Temporal Attention CNN for Grasp Stability Prediction (2021)
  • Author(s): Yan, G., Schmitz, A., Funabashi, S., Somlor, S., Tomo, T.P., Sugano, S.
  • Organizer: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation（ 国際学会）