Design of a Force/Tactile Sensor for Robotic Grippers

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a new force/tactile sensor for robotic applications. The sensor is suitably designed to provide the robotic grasping device with a sensory system mimicking the human sense of touch, namely, a device sensitive to contact forces, object slip and object geometry. This type of perception information is of paramount importance not only in dexterous manipulation but even in simple grasping task, especially when objects are fragile and deformable, such that only a minimum amount of grasping force can be applied to hold the object without damaging it.