Optimal grasping for a parallel two-fingered hand with compliant tactile sensors

A method of determining optimal grasping forces for a parallel two-fingered hand with compliant 2D tactile sensors is described. The tactile sensors can get 2D patterns of pressure distribution and have many potential applications such as shape recognition of a grasped object, assembly tasks and so on. In order to achieve assembly tasks using robot hands, information about the position of contact point and the contact force between the grasped object and its environment is essential. When contact force is applied to a grasped object from the environment, the pressure patterns of tactile sensors change according to not only amplitude of the applied force but also the contact position. Thus, a way to derive the contact position and force by tactile sensor data has been studied until now, and it is proven that the maximum measurable contact force from the environment depends on not only sensor characteristics but also grasping force. In the paper a way to determine the optimal grasping force to measure the largest contact force is proposed and some fundamental experiments for testing the derived grasping forces are done.