Extended Vision with the Robot Sensor Suit: A Primary Sensor Image Approach to Interfacing Body to Brain

We present an approach to interface body to brain through building primary sensor image integrating visual and somatic sensing systems. The fundamental idea of this approach is that a robot body is a sensor to observe the world. The primary sensor image gives the robot brain a projection of the world. We have developed methods to build sensor images. One method is to use sensor display of somatic sensors so that the vision can observe their state. Another method is to multiplex the somatic sensors onto the video image electrically. In order to attach large number of tactile sensors distributed on a robot body, we have built a robot sensor suit by using electrically conductive fabric. A humanoid wearing the sensor suit is introduced.