High-speed sensing of softness during grasping process by robot hand equipped with tactile sensor

We developed a high-speed telemanipulation system using a high-speed vision system and a high-speed robot hand equipped with a high-speed tactile sensor. This system does not require users to wear sensors. Also, since it has a latency lower than the sampling rate of human visual recognition, the latency is not recognizable by humans. Low-latency telemanipulation systems are needed to perform tasks that require high speed, such as catching falling objects or fast-moving objects. In a telemanipulation system, sensory (visual and tactile) feedback for the user is important to operate the system efficiently. In particular this paper focuses on the measurement of the softness characteristics of the object to be manipulated. We propose a new method of distinguishing target objects at high-speed based on softness information using a high-speed robot hand equipped with a high-speed tactile sensor.