Indirect sensing method for contact location and force in a compliant finger

Master thesis (2023)

Authors

L.B. de Rooij Mechanical Engineering

Contributors

A.E. Huisjes Mechatronic Systems Design - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (supervisor 1)
J.L. Herder Precision and Microsystems Engineering (supervisor 2)
M. Wiertlewski Human-Robot Interaction - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (supervisor 2)
Faculty
Mechanical Engineering
Copyright: © 2023 Rens de Rooij
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Published Date

19-01-2023

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

This research presents a measurement method for a
compliant gripper finger, whereby the location of the contact
with an object and the exerted grasp force are measured
indirectly, instead of directly on the contacting surface. For
this purpose, the deformation is measured using strain gauges
at two locations on the inside structure of the finger, where
high deformations occur. The finger is modeled using a Finite
Element Analysis, whereby strain data at the two sensor
locations is gathered for a set of different contact locations.
Now, by matching the measured data to a modeled scenario,
both the actual contact location in this scenario and the
accompanying contact force can be determined. For the
experimental validation, the compliant finger embedded with
the two strain gauges is manufactured and an experimental
setup has been built. The results show that the contact location
can be inferred from strain measurement and contact force
is determined accurately up to order of magnitude of 10-1 newton. Comparing the force-deformation behavior of the
original and the embedded finger, a maximum difference
of 6% in actuation force was observed. Hence, the sensing
method is useful to indirectly measure contact location and
force for a compliant finger in contact with an object, while
having a minor influence on the grasping performance of the
original design.