Mechanical Exploration of the Design of Tactile Fingertips via Finite Element Analysis

Haptic perception facilitates robots to interact with surrounding environments dexterously. Embedded tactile fingers behave robust and reliable, and is wildly used in robots. However, seldom research can be found on its perceptual mechanism in mechanics and the design guidance of its structure. In this paper, a numerical model is established to address the contact process between embedded-type tactile fingertips and a roughness surface via finite element analysis. Experimental and simulation results are compared during three contact processes: Drop-down, sliding and lifting-up. From the mechanical perspective, the strain and stress within the fingertip are explored, based on which several design suggestions are given on the spatial arrangement of sensing elements. In addition to explaining the perception mechanism in mechanical view, this paper also provides a reference for the general design of tactile fingertips.