High resolution pressure sensor distributed floor for future human-robot symbiosis environments

This paper proposes a high resolution sensor floor which can detect both humans and robots simultaneously. Each sensor floor unit is 500mm square and is equipped with 4,096 pressure switches distributed in a 64 /spl times/ 64 array. A 2m by 2m sensor floor with 16 of these sensor floor units has been realized. Experiments with this sensor floor have determined successfully the positions of a human and a 4-wheeled cart and can distinguish between them. The distinction is easily achieved because of the high resolution of the floor. The modular structure of the sensor floor enables easy application to a real room of irregular shape, allowing unconstrained measurement of the locations of humans, robots and objects in the room. Consequently, sensor floor systems will be essential components of future human-robot symbiosis systems to assist humans in daily life, and will also play important roles in medical and welfare robot systems.