A Biomimetic Tactile Fingerprint Induces Incipient Slip

TL;DR

This paper introduces a biomimetic tactile sensor with ridges that mimic human fingerprints, capable of detecting incipient slip to predict and prevent object drops, enhancing robotic grasping safety.

Contribution

The study presents a modified TacTip sensor with fingerprint-like ridges that can induce and detect incipient slip, enabling preemptive corrective actions in object manipulation.

Findings

Sensor successfully detects incipient slip before gross slip occurs.

Ridges improve local shear deformation detection.

Predictive capability reduces object dropping risk.

Abstract

We present a modified TacTip biomimetic optical tactile sensor design which demonstrates the ability to induce and detect incipient slip, as confirmed by recording the movement of markers on the sensor's external surface. Incipient slip is defined as slippage of part, but not all, of the contact surface between the sensor and object. The addition of ridges - which mimic the friction ridges in the human fingertip - in a concentric ring pattern allowed for localised shear deformation to occur on the sensor surface for a significant duration prior to the onset of gross slip. By detecting incipient slip we were able to predict when several differently shaped objects were at risk of falling and prevent them from doing so. Detecting incipient slip is useful because a corrective action can be taken before slippage occurs across the entire contact area thus minimising the risk of objects been dropped.