1993 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research and Development of Tactile Sensors for Artificial Fingers
| Project/Area Number |
04650309
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
情報工学
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| Research Institution | Niigata University |
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Principal Investigator |
OKADA Tokuji Niigata Univ. Faculty of Eng. Professor, 工学部, 教授 (60194362)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1992 – 1993
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| Keywords | Tactile Sensor / Dextrous Finger / Optical Projection / Inverse of Optical Projection / Suspension Shell / Displacement Measurement / Pinhole / PSD |
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| Research Abstract |
An optical measurement method is discussed to obtain 5 displacement parameters of a suspension shell which is a principal component of an artificial tactile sensor utilizing suspension-shell mechanisms. The procedure of extracting magnitude, direction and position of an external force operating on the shell is clarified by analizing dynamics of the suspension mechanism composed of springs, and is verified by the result of a simulation of contact. Also, the tactile sensor for fingers with outer diameter of 20mm is designed and fabricated by utilizing PSDs(Position Sensing Device)having the photosensitive area of 4.1mmx4.1mm. The sensor is attached on the gripper of the small robot(Movemaster ER.RV-M1)to obtain tactual information from areas of both the end and the periphery of the finger in the experiment. Then it is confirmed that the sensor makes it possible to get the information such that the magnitude, direction and position of the external force. Moreover, it is verified that the
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vibration of the shell in contacting is suppressed since the viscosity appearing in the connection at the ends of springs brings about damping effect when the motional speed of the finger is not so high as that of hammering.
Each of the five displacement parameters has a tendency to reach the limit of its dynamic range when the sensor is designed so that the minimun force sensitivity becomes small. In this case, the value of each displacement is checked to know whether the motion is critical. In such the case when some of the parameters reach critical, a slip may happen between the shell and an object and a great force is supported by the finger body. Thus, there is no problem about deformations of the suspension shell and decoupling of the springs in the mechanism as far as the shell and the finger body are similar in shape. This research will be extended by investigating the scanning method of light emitting devices so that the time required to obtain tactual information might be shortened in future. Less
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