COMPOSITE SIX AXIS FORCE SENSOR WITH EMBEDDED OPTICAL SENSORS

SENSORY FEEDBACK IS REQUIRED TO ALLOW ROBOTS TO PERFORM COMPLEX TASKS IN UNSTRUCTURED ENVIRONMENTS. SIX AXIS FORCE SENSORS ARE USED TO MONITOR THE FORCES ACTING BETWEEN A ROBOTIC GRIPPER, TOOLING BIT OR OTHER DEVICE AND THE ROBOT ARM. ELECTRONIC BASED SENSORS ARE LIMITED IN DYNAMIC SENSING RANGE AND ARE SENSITIVE TO THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF ELECTRO-MAGNETIC INTERFERENCE. ADDITIONALLY, STRAIN GAUGES USED IN THESE DEVICES CAN PEEL OFF FROM THEIR SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, RENDERING THE SIX AXIS FORCE SENSOR USELESS. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTICAL SIX AXIS FORCE SENSOR. THE SENSOR WILL BE FABRICATED FROM COMPOSITE MATERIALS (FIBER REINFORCED ORGANIC MATRIX) AND UTILIZE EMBEDDED OPTICAL SENSORS FOR STRAIN SENSING. THIS NOVEL TECHNIQUE WILL CIRCUMVENT MANY OF THE DIFFICULTIES ASSOCIATED WITH ELECTRONIC BASED SENSORS. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF COMPOSITE MATERIAL CROSS-SECTION, COMPOSITE MATERIAL AND THE OPTICAL STRAIN GAUGE CONFIGURATION ON THE PERFORMANCE CAPABILITIES OF SINGLE AXIS FORCE SENSORS. AN OPTICALLY BASED SIX AXIS FORCE SENSOR WILL BE DESIGNED, FABRICATED AND EVALUATED AS PART OF THE PHASE I PROGRAM.