GelSlim: A High-Resolution, Compact, Robust, and Calibrated Tactile-sensing Finger

Elliott Donlon, Siyuan Dong, Melody Liu, Jianhua Li, Edward Adelson and Alberto Rodriguez


Abstract

This work describes the development of a high-resolution tactile-sensing finger for robot grasping. This finger, inspired by previous GelSight sensing techniques, features an integration that is slimmer, more robust, and with more homogeneous output than previous vision-based tactile sensors. To achieve a compact integration, we redesign the optical path from illumination source to camera by combining light guides and an arrangement of mirror reflections. We parameterize the optical path with geometric design variables and describe the tradeoffs between the finger thickness, the depth of field of the camera, and the size of the tactile sensing area. The sensor sustains the wear from continuous use – and abuse – in grasping tasks by combining tougher materials for the compliant soft gel, a textured fabric skin, a structurally rigid body, and a calibration process that maintains homogeneous illumination and contrast of the tactile images during use. Finally, we evaluate the sensor's durability along four metrics that track the signal quality during more than 3000 grasping experiments.

Information

title:
GelSlim: A High-Resolution, Compact, Robust, and Calibrated Tactile-sensing Finger
author:
Elliott Donlon,
Siyuan Dong,
Melody Liu,
Jianhua Li,
Edward Adelson and Alberto Rodriguez
citation:
arXiv:1803.00628v2 [cs.RO]
shortcite:
arXiv:1803.00628v2 [cs.RO]
year:
2018
created:
2018-05-15
keyword:
adelson,
jianhua,
siyuan
www:
http://persci.mit.edu/pub_abstracts/gelslim-a-high-resolution-compact-robust-and-calibrated-tactile-sensing-finger.html
pdf:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.00628.pdf
pageid:
gelslim-a-high-resolution-compact-robust-and-calibrated-tactile-sensing-finger
type:
publication
 
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