Active tactile sensing of small insect force by a soft microfinger toward microfinger-insect interactions

Abstract

Human–robot interaction technology has contributed to improving sociality for humanoid robots. At scales far from human scales, a microrobot can interact with an environment in a small world. Microsensors have been applied to measurement of forces by flying or walking insects. Meanwhile, most previous works focused on the measurement of the behavior of insects. Here, we propose microrobot-insect interactions by soft microfingers integrated with artificial muscle actuators and tactile sensors, which has been developed for a haptic teleoperation robot system. A soft pneumatic balloon actuator acts as the artificial muscle, and a flexible strain sensor using a liquid metal provides tactile sensing. Force interaction between a pill bug and the microfinger could be accomplished. The microfinger (12 mm × 3 mm × 490 μm) can move and touch an insect, and it can detect reaction force from an insect. The measured reaction force from the legs of a pill bug as a representative insect was less than 10 mN. This paper presents a microfinger as an end effector for the active sensing of reaction force from a small insect. We anticipate that our results will lead to further evaluation of small living things as well as technology development for human–environment interaction.

Perceptual Soft End-Effectors for Future Unmanned Agriculture

“…Piezoelectric materials convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, enabling them to function as both actuators and sensors. Konishi et al integrated a soft pneumatic actuator with a flexible strain sensor constructed from liquid metal to detect forces as low as 10 mN via changes in electrical resistance [ 173 ]. In the process of apple picking, researchers employed sensors to establish a relationship between gripping force, tension, and servo torque.…”