Robust Learning-Based Incipient Slip Detection using the PapillArray Optical Tactile Sensor for Improved Robotic Gripping
This addresses slip detection for robotic systems to prevent dropped objects, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing sensor technology with learning methods.
The paper tackles incipient slip detection for robotic gripping using a learning-based approach with the PapillArray tactile sensor, achieving a 95.6% success rate on an offline dataset and 96.8% when transferred to a distinct robotic environment.
The ability to detect slip, particularly incipient slip, enables robotic systems to take corrective measures to prevent a grasped object from being dropped. Therefore, slip detection can enhance the overall security of robotic gripping. However, accurately detecting incipient slip remains a significant challenge. In this paper, we propose a novel learning-based approach to detect incipient slip using the PapillArray (Contactile, Australia) tactile sensor. The resulting model is highly effective in identifying patterns associated with incipient slip, achieving a detection success rate of 95.6% when tested with an offline dataset. Furthermore, we introduce several data augmentation methods to enhance the robustness of our model. When transferring the trained model to a robotic gripping environment distinct from where the training data was collected, our model maintained robust performance, with a success rate of 96.8%, providing timely feedback for stabilizing several practical gripping tasks. Our project website: https://sites.google.com/view/incipient-slip-detection.