Some experiments with tactile sensing during grasping

A tactile sensing finger tip for the Stanford/JPL Hand has been developed. This sensor incorporates an 8 × 8 sensor array with complete coverage of the cylindrical finger tip. A preliminary analysis has been done to determine contact center, magnitude, and orientation, and to judge if the constructed sensor has adequate sensitivity and density. This low level tactile information provides the first steps needed for reliable object manipulation in a dextrous hand. Experiments were performed during an open loop re-grasping manipulation to determine how well the sensors and algorithms performed.