Miniature Fibre-Optic based Shape Sensing for Robotic Applications using Curved Reflectors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a miniaturized fibre-optic shape sensor using curved reflectors for robotic applications, enabling non-contact, high-sensitivity joint-angle measurement in compact devices.

Contribution

It presents a novel miniaturized optical fibre sensor with curved reflectors for accurate, non-contact shape sensing in robotic and wearable devices.

Findings

Achieved large angle range with high sensitivity.

Demonstrated effective non-contact shape sensing.

Compared various reflector geometries for optimal performance.

Abstract

continuum-robots, prosthetic devices and wearable body-shape sensors. A miniaturised one-degree-of-freedom joint-angle sensor is devised, using a single light emitting/receiving optical fibre with a coupler connected to a Keyence (FS-N11MN, Osaka, Japan) sensor that supplies and detects light through the optical fibres. A curvature-varying reflective surface integrated in the joint demonstrates non-contact light intensity-based sensing. Various reflector geometries and surface colours are designed to compare sensor output for achieving a large angle range and improved sensitivity for the proposed miniaturised robotic shape-sensing applications.