Integration of tactile force and joint torque information in a whole-arm manipulator

It is shown that by integrating joint torque sensing and tactile sensor spatial and force information it is possible to increase the sensitivity in measuring the applied forces and contact locations. Using tactile sensors on a whole-arm manipulator (WAM) overcomes a number limitations in the joint torque method due to insufficient or low-accuracy measurements. In addition, a methodology is presented for determining design parameters for a tactile sensor given the requirements of a particular task. Specifically, the authors consider the design of a tactile sensor covering for the four-degree-of-freedom WAM arm installed at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory