Point of Contact Location and Normal Force Estimation Using Biomimetical Tactile Sensors

One of the most important human capabilities is the tactile sensing that allows advanced in hand manipulation for several objects or tasks. In the robot world, object manipulation without tactile sensing is relying only on visual detection, thus introducing large error margins. This paper presents several solutions for point of contact detection and normal force estimation by using a biomimetical tactile sensor mounted on a robot hand. Even if this paper focuses on the data generated by using a specific sensor, the results and implemented methods can be applied to a wide range of tactile sensors.