The sense of touch is fundamental for a one-to-one mapping between the environment and a robot that physically interacts with the environment. Herein, we describe a tactile fingertip design that can robustly detect interaction forces given data collected from a camera. This design is based on the photoelastic effect observed in silicone matter. Under the force applied to the silicone rubber, owing to the stress-induced birefringence, the light propagating within the silicone rubber is subjected to the angular phase shift, where the latter is proportional to the increase in the image brightness in the camera frames. We present the calibration and test results of the photoelastic sensor design on a bench using a robot arm and with a certified industrial force torque sensor. We also discuss the applications of this sensor design and its potential relationship with human mechano-transduction receptors. We achieved a force sensing range of up to 8 N with a force resolution of around 0.5 N. The photoelastic tactile fingertip is suitable for robot grasping and might lead to further progress in robust tactile sensing.
With the proliferation of haptic interfaces, the vibrotactile capabilities are accessible to a substantial number of end-users allowing a more realistic experience with Virtual Reality. Currently, the primary use of this vibrotactile feedback is to provide additional support to visual interaction via prehensile object manipulation using fingers. Nevertheless, haptic stimuli can be also applied for non-prehensile interaction that involves movements of the elbow joint. In this paper, we have designed and evaluated a vibrotactile device to investigate the effect of haptic stimuli, applied onto the fingertips, on a sensation of elbow displacements. The vision-driven displacement produced by the pseudo-haptics effect is then amplified by the vibrotactile stimuli. The experimental platform consists of a voice-coil actuator and a force sensor for generating mechanical vibrations at fingertips. The efficacy of the approach was validated in experiments with human subjects. The results show that the combination of pseudo-haptic and haptic illusion effects can be used to render various soft and rigid virtual objects.
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