A full tactile sensing suite for dextrous robot hands and use in contact force control

A full tactile sensing suite for the finger segments and palm of the Utah/MIT dextrous hand is presented. The rubber-based sensors employ capacitance sensing and floating electrodes in the top layer, and contain local electronics for excitation, filtering, analog-to-digital conversion, and serial communication. Experimental results on static, dynamic, and spatial properties are presented. Use of the tactile sensor in contact force control is demonstrated.