GelSight EndoFlex: A Soft Endoskeleton Hand with Continuous High-Resolution Tactile Sensing

Abstract

We describe a novel three-finger robot hand that has high resolution tactile sensing along the entire length of each finger. The fingers are compliant, constructed with a soft shell supported with a flexible endoskeleton. Each finger contains two cameras, allowing tactile data to be gathered along the front and side surfaces of the fingers. The gripper can perform an enveloping grasp of an object and extract a large amount of rich tactile data in a single grasp. By capturing data from many parts of the grasped object at once, we can do object recognition with a single grasp rather than requiring multiple touches. We describe our novel design and construction techniques which allow us to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of compliance and strength, and high resolution tactile sensing over large areas.