Project Summary (2012)
The aim is to prototype a textile skin that can stretch over or otherwise be attached to robotic arm, like the one pictured bellow. The skin should be able to stretch and twist as the joints of the arm move while simultaneously being able to detect contact with other objects. Gathering both location and pressure intensity data. While bending, stretching and twisting of the skin itself will influence the readings, it should not render them useless. This robot skin aims to imitate human skin both in functionality as well as look and feel.
Summary of criteria and goals for the robot skin:
– reliably detect both location and impact/pressure of objects touching the robot skin
– detect location on the skin at the highest resolution possible (5mm sq or less would be great)
– detect pressure intensity within the range of objects the robot might interact with (keys and chairs, not elephants and feathers)
– be cheap to manufacture (low material and production costs)
– attach to the robotic arm featured in the picture bellow, but also be customizable for people’s unique designs
– ideally the skin will be stretchy, and stretching of the skin does not influence the location and pressure readings
Example of robotic arm
