GelSlim3.0: High-Resolution Measurement of Shape, Force and Slip in a Compact Tactile-Sensing Finger
This addresses the problem of reliable tactile sensing for robotics in cluttered environments, though it is incremental as an improved version of an existing system.
The authors developed GelSlim 3.0, a compact tactile-sensing finger that integrates high-resolution shape, force, and slip sensing for small parallel jaw grippers in cluttered bin-picking, achieving real-time measurement capabilities and open-sourcing the design and software.
This work presents a new version of the tactile-sensing finger GelSlim 3.0, which integrates the ability to sense high-resolution shape, force, and slip in a compact form factor for use with small parallel jaw grippers in cluttered bin-picking scenarios. The novel design incorporates the capability to use real-time analytic methods to measure shape, estimate the contact 3D force distribution, and detect incipient slip. To achieve a compact integration, we optimize the optical path from illumination source to camera and other geometric variables in a optical simulation environment. In particular, we optimize the illumination sources and a light shaping lens around the constraints imposed by the photometric stereo algorithm used for depth reconstruction. The optimized optical configuration is integrated into a finger design composed of robust and easily replaceable snap-to-fit fingetip module that allow for ease of manufacture, assembly, use, and repair. To stimulate future research in tactile-sensing and provide the robotics community access to reliable and easily-reproducible tactile finger with a diversity of sensing modalities, we open-source the design and software at https://github.com/mcubelab/gelslim.