Automatic page-turning mechanism with near-field electroadhesive force for linearly correctable imaging

Abstract

Abstract-Recently, demand for digitization of books has increased in tandem with the spread of portable devices for electronic books. However, in a number of invented bookscanning devices, pages are turned manually by users, or pricey three-dimensional cameras are needed for image correction. Our automatic page-turning mechanism employs near-field electroadhesive force to turn a single page. As the near-field electroadhesive force on the closest sheet of paper is far stronger than that on the second, only a single sheet of paper can be lifted. Using Fourier series expansion, we prove that regardless of the geometrical configuration of electrodes, the force ratio on the closest to the second is dominantly controlled by the period of the configuration. Based on this, a novel electrode configuration is designed aiming to give higher force ratio than the conventional interdigital patterns. The advantage of our mechanism in image processing is that perspective correction is compatible with our mechanism, hence not requiring devices for acquiring 3-D information to reconstruct images. Our automatic page-turning mechanism with a fair success rate and the reduced number of components shows that it is a promising method for automatic low-cost book-scanning devices.

Electroadhesion Technologies for Robotics: A Comprehensive Review

“…Active and controllable (i.e., ON and OFF capability) adhesion and attachment mechanisms are useful for joining robotic elements [10], [11] and assisting robotic adhesion applications. These include composite stiffness tuning [101], surface traction [102], [103], surface anchoring [13], perching [12], clutching [104]- [106], page-turning [107], and improved sealing [108] (see Fig. 10).…”

“…(g) Electroactive clutches for wearable applications [105]. (h) Page turning for automatic book scanning [107]. (i) Suction cups with enhanced seal and lifting capability [108].…”

“…Diller et al [104] and Ramachandran et al [106] used EA for robotic clutching in wearable applications [105]. Lee et al [107] utilized EA as a controllable adhesion unit assisting page turning for automatic book scanning. Okuno et al [108] combined EA with a stretchable suction cup for enhanced sealing and lifting capability.…”

An Electroadhesive Paper Gripper With Application to a Document-Sorting Robot

“…Electroadhesion has been used in many applications, including wall climbing [22], [23], perching [24], [25], sorting granular material mixture [26], and gripping objects [7], [8], [9], [10], [16], [27], but few studies have focused on handling paper documents. An exception is the automatic page-turning mechanism proposed by Lee et al [28]. However, in their study, the target was a page in a book, and thus they did not need to consider the issues raised in the present paper.…”

Survey on Smart Reader for Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI)

“…Rolling friction between the page and the wheel creates a gap between the pages. [12][13][14][15] Here we present an idea for a Smart Book reader with OCR based image to text conversion, text to speech, dictionary query and page-turning mechanism. Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the proposed Smart Book Reader.…”