Detection of Human Contact by Thermal Exchange Observer of Robot Skin

Physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) enables to achieve various assistive tasks for people by robots such as collaborative robotics or motion assistance. It pertains both planning-control and hardware considerations. We propose a new soft robot skin that can detect human contact through thermal features. An electrically conductive pipe is interposed between graphite sheet that has high heat conductivity and soft material for cover compliance. Then the temperature of the water pipe is controlled by a heat source and a small water pump. Besides, an observer for estimating heat flow is implemented; it can detect human interaction by measuring the temperature change of the water pipe. Hence, there is no need to attach sensors to the robot skin's surface, which can be kept soft and eventually textured with a desired pattern. We assessed the validity of the prototype in experiments of contact detection by human fingers.

[1]  Russ Tedrake,et al.  Localizing external contact using proprioceptive sensors: The Contact Particle Filter , 2016, 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

[2]  A. Kheddar,et al.  Thermoelectric Modules: Recursive non-linear ARMA modeling, Identification and Robust Control , 2007, IECON 2007 - 33rd Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

[3]  Alessandro De Luca,et al.  Sensorless Robot Collision Detection and Hybrid Force/Motion Control , 2005, Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[4]  J. Wessberg,et al.  Functional role of unmyelinated tactile afferents in human hairy skin: sympathetic response and perceptual localization , 2007, Experimental Brain Research.

[5]  Alessandro De Luca,et al.  Robot Collisions: A Survey on Detection, Isolation, and Identification , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[6]  Kyle B. Reed,et al.  Perceived Cooling Using Asymmetrically-Applied Hot and Cold Stimuli , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

[7]  J. Velazquez-Perez,et al.  Peltier Effect in Semiconductors , 2014 .

[9]  Ravinder Dahiya,et al.  Robotic Tactile Sensing: Technologies and System , 2012 .

[10]  Alessandro De Luca,et al.  Combining real and virtual sensors for measuring interaction forces and moments acting on a robot , 2016, 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

[11]  Lynette A. Jones,et al.  Warm or Cool, Large or Small? The Challenge of Thermal Displays , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

[12]  H. Olausson,et al.  Touch perceptions across skin sites: differences between sensitivity, direction discrimination and pleasantness , 2014, Front. Behav. Neurosci..

[13]  Leandro Lorenzelli,et al.  Technologies for Printing Sensors and Electronics Over Large Flexible Substrates: A Review , 2015, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[14]  Kouhei Ohnishi,et al.  Motion control for advanced mechatronics , 1996 .

[15]  Vincent Hayward,et al.  On the 1/f noise and non-integer harmonic decay of the interaction of a finger sliding on flat and sinusoidal surfaces , 2011, 2011 IEEE World Haptics Conference.

[16]  Abderrahmane Kheddar,et al.  Modeling Identification and Control of Peltier Thermoelectic Modules for Telepresence , 2011 .

[17]  Seiichiro Katsura,et al.  Thermal Propagation Control Using a Thermal Diffusion Equation , 2018, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[18]  Fabrizio Flacco,et al.  Contact detection and physical interaction for low cost personal robots , 2017, 2017 26th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).

[19]  Abderrahmane Kheddar,et al.  A Novel Robot Soft Cover with Thermal Display Capabilities , 2020 .

[20]  Abderrahmane Kheddar,et al.  Contact Observer for Humanoid Robot Pepper based on Tracking Joint Position Discrepancies , 2018, 2018 27th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).

[21]  Aude Billard,et al.  A survey of Tactile Human-Robot Interactions , 2010, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[22]  S. Shyam Sundar,et al.  Can you hold my hand? Physical warmth in human-robot interaction , 2012, 2012 7th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[23]  Jaeryoung Lee,et al.  I am a warm robot: the effects of temperature in physical human–robot interaction , 2013, Robotica.

[24]  J. Fisher,et al.  Multidimensional reaction to therapeutic touch in a hospital setting. , 1979, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  J. M. Coulson,et al.  Heat Transfer , 2018, Heat Transfer in Food Cooling Applications.