Development of flexible fabric based tactile sensor for closed loop control of soft robotic actuator

The ability to sense and measure object properties based on touch is known as tactile sensing. The flexibility and dexterity of soft robots can be fully explored, only with efficient tactile feedback from the environment or the objects the robot interact with. This paper discusses about the development of a soft fabric based piezoresistive tactile sensor, the related calibration experiments and procedures. Fabric based sensors are flexible, stretchable and can confer to both hard and soft surfaces easily. The ability of the tactile sensor to enhance the efficiency of robotic activities is demonstrated in a simple cutting task. The robotic end effector used is a pneumatically controlled soft gripper. Experimental results show that the feedback from the tactile sensor developed is successfully used to detect the completion of the cutting task.