Contact State Estimation by Vision-Based Tactile Sensors for Dexterous Manipulation with Robot Hands Based on Shape-Sensing

Abstract

We propose a new method for estimating the contact state of objects with varying shapes on a vision-based fluid-type tactile sensor, which touch pad is an elastic transparent membrane of silicon rubber with dotted pattern printed on its inner side. The membrane is filled with translucent red colored water. The proposed method leads to better understanding of the object's shape and movement, and can be applied for accomplishing reliable and dexterous handling tasks by robot hands.