Sensitive and Robust Touch Sensing Systems for Robotic Humanoid Hands and Other Mission Driven Applications

Human grasp is simultaneously gentle yet firm, provides a large amount of tactile touch information, and is intuitive.  Ras Labs is bringing a sense of touch to robots.  The Tactile Fingertip™ is remarkedly like the human fingertip, providing for a grip that is gentle yet firm with tactile touch information and real time responsiveness.  Ras Labs’ Tactile Fingertips, though extremely sensitive (routinely to 0.05 N, 0.005 N in max sensitivity mode), also have a wide pressure range, up to 40 N and more with high linearity. The elastomeric sensing pads provided a soft compliant interface – they feel like the human fingertip.  Tactile Fingertips are also robust, surpassing over 20,000,000 fatigue cycles.  Tactility in robotic gripper end of arm tooling (EOAT) and skins will advance robotics, including collaborative robots where humans and robots work together intuitively and safely, and in humanoids for human assist, especially in hazardous environments on Earth and in space.  Humanoids that focus on bipedal movement are better suited for terrestrial environments, while humanoids with sophisticated humanoid hands are advantageous for air and space.  Ras Labs is entering the humanoid space with a focus on using our innovative touch sensing technology to provide unprecedented dexterity and grace to humanoid hands.