Development of the Tactile Sensor System of a Human-Interactive Robot “RI-MAN”

Human-interactive robots, such as those used for nursing, which share humans' environments and interact with them, should be covered with soft areal tactile sensors for safety and dexterous manipulation. We report the successful development of the tactile sensor system of our human-interactive robot named RI-MAN, which can lift up a dummy human.

I. Introduction

With the advent of an aging society, the demand for human-interactive robots that can help on-site caregivers by playing a part in nursing humans, particularly the elderly, is increasing. Such human-interactive robots share humanS' environments and interact with them, and should be designed on the basis of different criteria from those of conventional industrial robots.