Electrical resistance tomography (ERT) can be used to create large-scale soft tactile sensors that are flexible and robust. Good performance requires a fast and accurate mapping from the sensor's sequential voltage measurements to the distribution of force across its surface. However, particularly with multiple contacts, this task is challenging for both previously developed approaches: physics-based modeling and end-to-end data-driven learning. Some promising results were recently achieved using sim-to-real transfer learning, but estimating multiple contact locations and accurate contact forces remains difficult because simulations tend to be less accurate with a high number of contact locations and/or high force. This paper introduces a modular hybrid method that combines simulation data synthesized from an electromechanical finite element model with real measurements collected from a new ERT-based tactile sensor. We use about 290 000 simulated and 90 000 real measurements to train two deep neural networks: the first (Transfer-Net) captures the inevitable gap between simulation and reality, and the second (Recon-Net) reconstructs contact forces from voltage measurements. The number of contacts, contact locations, force magnitudes, and contact diameters are evaluated for a manually collected multi-contact dataset of 150 measurements. Our modular pipeline's results outperform predictions by both a physics-based model and end-to-end learning. Note to Practitioners-ERT-based tactile sensors use highspeed voltage measurements from electrodes distributed over a piezoresistive area to output a force map that shows where contact is occurring, and how strong each contact is. Such sensors Manuscript
Laminated composite panels are extensively used in various engineering applications. Piezoelectric transducers can be integrated into such composite structures for a variety of vibration control and energy harvesting applications. Analyzing the structural dynamics of such electromechanical systems requires precise modeling tools which properly consider the coupling between the piezoelectric elements and the laminates. Although previous analytical models in the literature cover vibration analysis of laminated composite plates with fully covered piezoelectric layers, they do not provide a formulation for modeling the piezoelectric patches that partially cover the plate surface. In this study, a methodology for vibration analysis of laminated composite plates with surface-bonded piezo-patches is developed. Rayleigh–Ritz method is used for solving the modal analysis and obtaining the frequency response functions. The developed model includes mass and stiffness contribution of the piezo-patches as well as the two-way electromechanical coupling effect. Moreover, an accelerated method is developed for reducing the computation time of the modal analysis solution. For validations, system-level finite element simulations are performed in ANSYS software. The results show that the developed analytical model can be utilized for accurate and efficient analysis and design of laminated composite plates with surface-bonded piezo-patches.
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