Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping
This paper presents a new force sensor design approach that maps the local sampling of pressure inside a composite polymeric footpad to forces in three axes, designed for running robots. Conventional multiaxis force sensors made of heavy metallic materials tend to be too bulky and heavy to be fitted...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97549 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0172-0339 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0218-6801 |
| _version_ | 1826206058803101696 |
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| author | Chuah, Meng Yee Kim, Sangbae |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Chuah, Meng Yee Kim, Sangbae |
| author_sort | Chuah, Meng Yee |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This paper presents a new force sensor design approach that maps the local sampling of pressure inside a composite polymeric footpad to forces in three axes, designed for running robots. Conventional multiaxis force sensors made of heavy metallic materials tend to be too bulky and heavy to be fitted in the feet of legged robots, and vulnerable to inertial noise upon high acceleration. To satisfy the requirements for high speed running, which include mitigating high impact forces, protecting the sensors from ground collision, and enhancing traction, these stiff sensors should be paired with additional layers of durable, soft materials; but this also degrades the integrity of the foot structure. The proposed foot sensor is manufactured as a monolithic, composite structure composed of an array of barometric pressure sensors completely embedded in a protective polyurethane rubber layer. This composite architecture allows the layers to provide compliance and traction for foot collision while the deformation and the sampled pressure distribution of the structure can be mapped into three axis force measurement. Normal and shear forces can be measured upon contact with the ground, which causes the footpad to deform and change the readings of the individual pressure sensors in the array. A one-time training process using an artificial neural network is all that is necessary to relate the normal and shear forces with the multiaxis foot sensor output. The results show that the sensor can predict normal forces in the Z-axis up to 300 N with a root mean squared error of 0.66% and up to 80 N in the X- and Y-axis. The experiment results demonstrates a proof-of-concept for a lightweight, low cost, yet robust footpad sensor suitable for use in legged robots undergoing ground locomotion. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:23:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/97549 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:23:26Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/975492022-09-28T13:49:53Z Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping Chuah, Meng Yee Kim, Sangbae Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Chuah, Meng Yee Kim, Sangbae Chuah, Meng Yee This paper presents a new force sensor design approach that maps the local sampling of pressure inside a composite polymeric footpad to forces in three axes, designed for running robots. Conventional multiaxis force sensors made of heavy metallic materials tend to be too bulky and heavy to be fitted in the feet of legged robots, and vulnerable to inertial noise upon high acceleration. To satisfy the requirements for high speed running, which include mitigating high impact forces, protecting the sensors from ground collision, and enhancing traction, these stiff sensors should be paired with additional layers of durable, soft materials; but this also degrades the integrity of the foot structure. The proposed foot sensor is manufactured as a monolithic, composite structure composed of an array of barometric pressure sensors completely embedded in a protective polyurethane rubber layer. This composite architecture allows the layers to provide compliance and traction for foot collision while the deformation and the sampled pressure distribution of the structure can be mapped into three axis force measurement. Normal and shear forces can be measured upon contact with the ground, which causes the footpad to deform and change the readings of the individual pressure sensors in the array. A one-time training process using an artificial neural network is all that is necessary to relate the normal and shear forces with the multiaxis foot sensor output. The results show that the sensor can predict normal forces in the Z-axis up to 300 N with a root mean squared error of 0.66% and up to 80 N in the X- and Y-axis. The experiment results demonstrates a proof-of-concept for a lightweight, low cost, yet robust footpad sensor suitable for use in legged robots undergoing ground locomotion. United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) Program Singapore. Agency for Science, Technology and Research 2015-06-29T15:22:22Z 2015-06-29T15:22:22Z 2014-03 2013-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1530-437X 1558-1748 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97549 Chuah, Meng Yee, and Sangbae Kim. “Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping.” IEEE Sensors J. 14, no. 5 (May 2014): 1693–1703. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0172-0339 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0218-6801 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2014.2299805 IEEE Sensors Journal Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Chuah |
| spellingShingle | Chuah, Meng Yee Kim, Sangbae Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping |
| title | Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping |
| title_full | Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping |
| title_fullStr | Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping |
| title_short | Enabling Force Sensing During Ground Locomotion: A Bio-Inspired, Multi-Axis, Composite Force Sensor Using Discrete Pressure Mapping |
| title_sort | enabling force sensing during ground locomotion a bio inspired multi axis composite force sensor using discrete pressure mapping |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97549 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0172-0339 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0218-6801 |
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