Research and Development of Tactile Sensors for Artificial Fingers

讨论了一种光学测量方法，以获得悬壳式人工触觉传感器主部件悬壳的5个位移参数。通过对弹簧组成的悬架机构的动力学分析，阐明了作用在壳体上的外力的大小、方向和位置的提取过程，并通过接触仿真的结果进行了验证。利用光敏面积为4.1mmx4.1mm的psd (Position Sensing Device)，设计制作了外径为20mm的手指触觉传感器。传感器安装在小型机器人（Movemaster ER）的抓手上。RV-M1)来获取实验中手指末端和周边区域的触觉信息。然后证实该传感器可以获得外力的大小、方向和位置等信息。验证了当手指运动速度低于锤击速度时，由于弹簧末端连接处出现的黏度产生阻尼作用，使得弹壳在接触时的振动受到抑制。在设计传感器时，五个位移参数都有接近其动态范围极限的趋势，使得最小力灵敏度变小。在这种情况下，检查每个位移的值，以知道运动是否临界。在这种情况下，当某些参数达到临界时，弹壳与物体之间可能发生滑动，手指体承受很大的力。因此，只要悬架壳与指体形状相似，就不存在悬架壳变形和机构中弹簧解耦的问题。本研究将通过研究发光器件的扫描方法来扩展，以便将来可以缩短获取触摸信息所需的时间。少

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 … More 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