Scalable robotic-hand control system based on a hierarchical multi-processor architecture adopting a large number of tactile sensors

Abstract

A robotic-hand controller with operating performance scalable according to the number of connected tactile sensors was developed. To eliminate performance bottlenecks that appear with increasing number of sensors, the controller architecture adopts multiple processors connected in a loosely-coupled hierarchical structure. Moreover, to maximize operation throughput of the system, a technique for gathering sensor data while all components operate asynchronously was also developed. A prototype robotic-hand system based on this architecture was constructed. The system experimentally demonstrated 62%-reduced control latency and 6.5-times faster sensor-data processing, thus achieving seven times greater performance scalability as compared with a conventional controller architecture. As a result, the proposed architecture enables the robotic-hand system to grasp objects with different weights and hardnesses.