Active Bayesian perception for angle and position discrimination with a biomimetic fingertip

In this work, we apply active Bayesian perception to angle and position discrimination and extend the method to perform actions in a sensorimotor task using a biomimetic fingertip. The first part of this study tests active perception off-line with a large dataset of edge orientations and positions, using a Monte Carlo validation to ascertain the classification accuracy. We observe a significant improvement over passive methods that lack a sensorimotor loop for actively repositioning the sensor. The second part of this study then applies these findings about active perception to an example sensorimotor task in real-time. Using an appropriate online sensorimotor control architecture, the robot made decisions about what to do next and where to move next, which was applied to a contour-following task around several objects. The successful outcome of this simple but illustrative task demonstrates that active perception can be of practical benefit for tactile robotics.