Toudai Tlo, Ltd.

Kazuto Kamiyama

Susumu Tachi

Hiroyuki Kajimoto

Naoki Kawakami

Terukazu Mizota

An optical tactile sensor and an image information integrating method capable of measuring large area force vector distribution are provided. The optical tactile sensor comprises a tactile section comprising a transparent elastic body () and a plurality of markers () provided therein, and a plurality of imaging devices () for obtaining a marker image by photographing the behavior of the markers when an object () contacts the tactile face () of the transparent elastic body (). The method comprises a step of obtaining a partial image by photographing the partial regions A, B, C and D of the transparent resilient body () using the plurality of imaging devices () such that each imaging device () has an overlapped photograph region (), and a step of integrating the partial images obtained by each imaging device () such that the identical markers in the overlapped photograph region match.

Optical tactile sensor

The invention relates to a technique for reducing computation time for force vector calculation. A force vector reconstruction method that uses an optical tactile sensor, comprises a step for obtaining a marker image by taking an image of behavior of colored markers when an object contacts a contact surface of an elastic body, a step of obtaining information relating to the marker behavior from the marker image, the information being more than the number of force vectors to be obtained, and a step of obtaining force vectors as outputs by inputting information relating to the obtained marker behavior to a transfer function. The step of obtaining force vectors comprises calculating force vectors using only information relating to behavior of markers neighboring region A1 of a position A where it is desired to obtain force vectors.

Force vector reconstruction method using optical tactile sensor

The invention relates to a tactile sensor capable of obtaining information for a plurality of degrees of freedom at each point on a surface. An optical tactile sensor is provided with a sensing part and a photographing device, the sensing part comprising a transparent elastic body and a plurality of groups of markers provided inside the elastic body, each marker group being made up of a number of colored markers, with markers making up different marker groups having different colors for each group. The elastic body has an arbitrary curved surface. The behavior of the colored markers when an object touches the curved surface of the elastic body is obtained as image information of markers by photographing device. The sensor further comprises a force vector distribution reconstructing device for reconstructing forces applied to said surface from information as to the behavior of markers that is obtained from said image information of markers.

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Maebashi, Japan

Kazuto Kamiyama