Incipient Slip Detection by Vibration Injection Into Soft Sensor

In robotic manipulation, preventing objects from slipping and establishing a secure grip on them is critical. Successful manipulation requires tactile sensors that detect the microscopic incipient slip phenomenon at the contact surface. Unfortunately, the tiny signals generated by incipient slip are quickly buried by environmental noise, and precise stress-distribution measurement requires an extensive optical system and integrated circuits. In this study, we focus on the macroscopic deformation of the entire fingertip's soft structure instead of directly observing the contact surface and its role as a vibration medium for sensing. The proposed method compresses the stick ratio's information into a one-dimensional pressure signal using the change in the propagation characteristics by vibration injection into the soft structure, which magnifies the microscopic incipient slip phenomena into the entire deformation. This mechanism allows a tactile sensor to use just a single vibration sensor. In the implemented system, a biomimetic tactile sensor is vibrated using a white signal from a PZT motor and utilizes frequency spectrum change of the propagated vibration as features. We investigated the proposed method's effectiveness on stick-ratio estimation and stick-ratio stabilization control during incipient slip. Our estimation error and the control performance results significantly outperformed the conventional methods.