Orientation Detection and Shape Discrimination of an Object on a Flat Surface Using the Distributive Tactile Sensing Technique

摘要

The development of distributive tactile sensors has shown potential to enhance certain tasks often performed by a vision system, such as the determination of an object shape at a lower operational cost. As opposed to a point-to-point or discrete sensing approach, a distributive technique can be employed in a tactile system and offers the potential to reduce the number of sensing elements. The technique relies on detection of changes in the surface properties that can be seen across the surface rather than at the point of contact. The changes due to a particular object are unique and vary between each object's shape and position. In this paper we present a tactile system configured as a flat two-dimensional distributive system that can detect changes in the slate of contact. We have chosen to study the performance of the system to determine the orientation of a rectangular object and to discriminate objects of complex shapes. It was found that the system was able to determine the orientation of the rectangular object to the precision within 3.4% of the angle of orientation. The success rate of the system to discriminate shapes was approximately 93.8 % of the data presented for samples placed at random positions and orientations on the surface.