ROBOTIC ADAPTIVE GRASPING WITH A CAPACITANCE ARRAY TACTILE SENSING SYSTEM

THE NEED FOR ADAPTIVE GRASPING OF VARIOUS OBJECTS BY ONE END-EFFECTOR IS REQUIRED FOR ROBOTS DESIGNED TO OPERATE IN SPACE. THEREFORE, A SENSOR SYSTEM THAT CAN BE INTEGRATED WITH A FLEXIBLE END-EFFECTOR TO PROVIDE TARGET RECOGNITION AND CONTROLLED GRIPPING IS PROPOSED. BASIC RESEARCH HAS BEEN CONDUCTED BY THE PROPOSER ON CAPACITANCE SENSOR TECHNOLOGY, INDICATING THAT CAPACITANCE BETWEEN A SENSOR AND A TARGET CAN PRODUCE TACTILE INFORMATION. FURTHERMORE, CAPACITANCE SENSORS ARE LIGHT WEIGHT AND ROBUST THEREBY MAKING THEM EXCELLENT CANDIDATES FOR SPACE ROBOTIC SYSTEMS. PHASE I OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL INVESTIGATE THE APPLICABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUITABILITY OF THIS TECHNOLOGY TO SPACE ROBOTIC SYSTEMS. AN ADAPTIVE CONTROL PHILOSOPHY AND LIMITATIONS WILL BE ESTABLISHED BASED ON ALGORITHM SCHEMES THAT WILL BE PROPOSED. PHASE II WOULD ESTABLISH AND DEMONSTRATE ADAPTIVE, GRASPING SYSTEM BASED ON THE CAPACITANCE SENSING SYSTEM. THE SYSTEM DESIGN WILL HAVE AS AN OBJECTIVE, THE MAXIMIZING OF INFORMATION FROM A SINGLE SENSOR (OR ARRAY OF SENSORS) AND MINIMIZING THE RELIANCE ON SENSOR FUSION SCHEMES, HENCE MINIMIZING THE COMPLEXITY OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE.