Embedded infrared imaging to measure the deformation of a soft robotic actuator

Abstract

Soft machine tables are industrial robots with a soft, computer-controlled, deformable surface. They are designed to manipulate objects placed on the surface by changing the surface shape. The current control approaches for the soft actuators embedded in the surface layer are open-loop, because appropriate sensors have not been developed, yet. In this report, we propose a solution based on an array of infrared sensors embedded in the soft actuator. For an existing soft machine table, we propose a sensor setup to measure the surface deformation from within a pneumatic chamber. The approach is supported by quantitative, experimental results. First, we prove the validity of the physical sensor principle. Secondly, we show that the sensor is operable under the constraints given by the design of the existing soft machine table.