Active Acoustic Sensing for Robot Manipulation
Shihan Lu, Heather Culbertson

TL;DR
This paper introduces an active acoustic sensing method for robot manipulation that uses resonant properties of objects to improve perception of internal states and contact interactions, enhancing manipulation capabilities.
Contribution
It develops a novel active acoustic sensing approach combining hardware design, simulation, and evaluation to aid robot manipulation tasks.
Findings
Effective sensing of object internal states demonstrated
Hardware and simulation models validated the approach
Potential for improved object recognition and pose estimation
Abstract
Perception in robot manipulation has been actively explored with the goal of advancing and integrating vision and touch for global and local feature extraction. However, it is difficult to perceive certain object internal states, and the integration of visual and haptic perception is not compact and is easily biased. We propose to address these limitations by developing an active acoustic sensing method for robot manipulation. Active acoustic sensing relies on the resonant properties of the object, which are related to its material, shape, internal structure, and contact interactions with the gripper and environment. The sensor consists of a vibration actuator paired with a piezo-electric microphone. The actuator generates a waveform, and the microphone tracks the waveform's propagation and distortion as it travels through the object. This paper presents the sensing principles, hardware…
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Taxonomy
TopicsTactile and Sensory Interactions · Structural Health Monitoring Techniques · Music Technology and Sound Studies
