Tactile sensor pad: shape recognition

Most robot tactile sensing research has focused on object shape recognition with tactile sensors. In this paper we examine the model of a tactile pad sensor, assumed to be a finite dimension medium. The model of the tactile pad sensor is obtained using an integral relation between the boundary conditions and the stress tensor. A set of stress sensors is allocated in the tactile pad, the model is discretized and a direct relation between the parameters of the shape to be recognized and the measured stress is obtained. Due to the ill-posedness of the problem, classical least squares estimation and regularized estimation are examined. Numerical simulations in order to evaluate the inversion technique with different shapes of the object, are presented.