Can I Pet Your Robot? Incorporating Capacitive Touch Sensing into a Soft Socially Assistive Robot Platform

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cost-effective method to embed capacitive touch sensors into a soft, crocheted social robot, enabling reliable detection and localization of user touch without compromising its soft, animal-like appearance.

Contribution

It presents a novel integration of conductive thread-based capacitive sensors into a soft robot, maintaining its aesthetic while enhancing tactile sensing capabilities.

Findings

Sensors reliably detected user touch events

Localized touch inputs to specific regions

Maintained soft, zoomorphic appearance

Abstract

This work presents a method of incorporating low-cost capacitive tactile sensors on a soft socially assistive robot platform. By embedding conductive thread into the robot's crocheted exterior, we formed a set of low-cost, flexible capacitive tactile sensors that do not disrupt the robot's soft, zoomorphic embodiment. We evaluated the sensors' performance through a user study (N=20) and found that the sensors reliably detected user touch events and localized touch inputs to one of three regions on the robot's exterior.