A deformable sensor for detecting a pose and force associated with an object is provided. The deformable sensor includes a housing, a deformable membrane coupled to an upper portion of the housing, an enclosure defined by the housing and the deformable membrane and configured to be filled with a medium, a time-of-flight receiver positioned within the enclosure and a plurality of time-of-flight emitters arranged around the time-of-flight receiver within the enclosure. The plurality of time-of-flight emitters are configured to emit signals toward the deformable membrane at different times. The time-of-flight receiver is configured to receive signals reflected from the deformable membrane.

The end effector device includes an end effector including a palm and a plurality of fingers, a drive device, a position shift direction determination unit and a position shift correction unit. Each finger includes a tactile sensor unit capable of detecting external forces in at least three axial directions. The position shift direction determination unit determines in which direction the object being grasped is position-shifted with respect to the fitting recess based on a detection result detected by the tactile sensor unit in a case where at least one of the external forces detected by the tactile sensor unit is a specified value or more. The position shift correction unit moves the palm in a direction opposite to a position shift direction of the object being grasped determined by the position shift direction determination unit.

Components and sensors for robotic manipulators are described that enable grasping and manipulation of objects with a high degree of resolution.

A force sensor includes a first member, a second member, an intermediate member, a first elastic structure that couples the first member and the intermediate member, a second elastic structure that couples the second member and the intermediate member, and a displacement detector that measures displacements of the first member and the second member. It is possible to provide a force sensor that has high detection precision and that is compact.

Waveguides, such as light guides, made entirely of elastomeric material or with indents on an outer surface are disclosed. These improved waveguides can be used in scissors, soft robotics, or displays. For example, the waveguides can be used in a strain sensor, a curvature sensor, or a force sensor. In an instance, the waveguide can be used in a hand prosthetic. Sensors that use the disclosed waveguides and methods of manufacturing waveguides also are disclosed.

Provided are systems, devices, and methods for sensing location and forces. A robotic effector comprising a skin and a core can have a plurality of electrodes integrated in the skin and/or core. Upon interaction with a target object, the robotic effector may determine a total force and/or a location of the force by the target object on the robotic effector. Sensitivity and dynamic range of the robotic effector may improve by changing various configurations.

A classifying sensing system, a classifying method performed using a sensing system, a tactile sensor, and a method of fabricating a tactile sensor. The classifying sensing system comprises a first spiking neural network, SNN, encoder configured for encoding an event-based output of a vision sensor into individual vision modality spiking representations with a first output size; a second SNN encoder configured for encoding an event-based output of a tactile sensor into individual tactile modality spiking representations with a second output size; a combination layer configured for merging the vision modality spiking representations and the tactile modality spiking representations; and a task SNN configured to receive the merged vision modality spiking representations and tactile modality spiking representations and output vision-tactile modality spiking representations with a third output size for classification.

A safety apparatus is used to be arranged at a movable member of automatic device and is communicatively connected to a controller of the automatic device. The safety apparatus includes a contact detector and a module. The contact detector is for detecting a contact event of the safety apparatus, and outputting a contact signal. The module includes a first input terminal, a second input terminal and an output terminal. The first input terminal is communicatively connected to the contact detector, and is for receiving the contact signal. The second input terminal is communicatively connected to the output terminal, and is capable of communicatively connecting to an output terminal of another safety apparatus. The output terminal is communicatively connected to the first input terminal, and is for outputting an output signal when the first input terminal receives the contact signal. Upon receiving the output signal from the output terminal, the controller changes a motion state of the movable member of the automatic device.

This application discloses a tactile sensor, a detection method for a touch event, a sensing device and a robot, and belongs to the field of sensor design. The tactile sensor includes: a sensing unit, an elastomer support housing and a base; the sensing unit is disposed in an inner cavity enclosed by the elastomer support housing and the base; and the sensing unit includes at least two light sources, a photo detector and a reflector, where the photo detector is disposed on base, the at least two light sources are disposed around the periphery of the photo detector on the base, and the reflector is disposed at the top of an inner cavity of the elastomer support housing. By adopting the combination of a plurality of light sources and one photo detector, the number of photo detectors for use is reduced, so that the volume of the tactile sensor is reduced.

A visual-tactile sensing device includes a visual-tactile sensing pad useful to capture image data related to a work piece during contact with the pad and as it approaches the pad. The sensing device can be used as part of a robotic gripper or other device. One or more lights can be used to illuminate the work piece and/or project light through the pad. The pad includes a rigid base, an elastic layer structured to deform upon contact with the work piece, and a diffraction layer structured to diffract light at different colors depending on the angle of the incoming light rays and camera placement.