Exploratory Tactile Servoing With Active Touch

Object exploration using vision and active touch

“…Simultaneously, a python server on the PC implements image capture and preprocessing to quantify surface deformation of the TacTip by tracking the internal pins with opencv (http://opencv.org/). Similar methods are used in other recent papers [6], [7].…”

“…This work is based on previous studies of active touch for tactile exploration [5], [6], here extended to introducing visual sensing into the robotic system.…”

“…We build upon recent progress in tactile exploration [5], [6] based on biomimetic active touch [7]- [9] that combines perception via Bayesian evidence accumulation with controlling the tactile sensor via perceived stimulus NL was supported in part by a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) on 'Tactile superresolution sensing' (EP/M02993X/1) and a Leadership Award from the Leverhulme Trust on 'A biomimetic forebrain for robot touch' (RL-2016-39).…”

“…location. Robust exploratory behaviour then emerges from a control policy that maintains the sensor on the contour while moving along it [5], [6]. Here, passive vision is combined with active touch by giving a visual prior for each perceptual decision that is updated with evidence from tactile sensing.…”

Model-Free Precise in-Hand Manipulation with a 3D-Printed Tactile Gripper

“…The compliance of the TacTip is an intrinsic part of its transduction mechanism and renders it ideal to investigate manipulation, as soft sensors have been demonstrated to be more effective than rigid sensors at grasping [22], as well as accurately detecting phase changes in manipulation tasks while maintaining grip [23], [24]. Although studies using model-based approaches to soft finger sensing have been performed [25], we opted for a non-model based method based on running a training phase to construct a likelihood model, following other work on using biomimetic active touch to perceive and explore objects [26], [27].…”