TABLE OF CONTENTS Makoto Kaneko, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
Toshio Tsuji, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
An algorithm for detecting the shape of a 2D concave surface by utilizing a tactile probe is discussed. Pulling a tactile probe whose tip lies on an object's surface can be easily achieved, while pushing it is more difficult due to stick-slip or blocking up with irregular surface. To cope with the difficulty of pushing motion on a frictional surface, the proposed sensing algorithm makes use of the pulling motion of tactile probe from a local concave point to an outer direction. The algorithm is composed of three phases, local concave point search, tracing motion planning, and infinite loop escape. The proposed algorithm runs until the tactile probe detects every surface which it can reach and touch. We show computer simulations obtained using the proposed algorithm.
This paper focuses on the shape detection of a 2D surface by utilizing a tactile probe which can detect any contact point between itself and the environment. One emphasis of our research is to study how the probe motion should be planned for the object including concave surface. Suppose that the human moves his or her fingertip on the table as shown in Figure 1, where (a) and (b) denote the pushing and the pulling modes, respectively. It should be noted that pushing motion is not achieved smoothly due to the well-known stick-slip phenomenon and often blocked by a small irregularity on the surface, while pulling...
