Tactile and Force Sensors for Dexterous Robotic Manipulation of Soft Objects

Today, there is a great interest in versatile robotic solutions intended to support grasping and manipulation of objects with different shapes and physical properties. In particular, we are witnessing an increasing demand for robotic solutions that enable manipulating deformable objects with low stiffness. One of the major issues to tackle in dexterous robotic manipulation of soft objects is the fact that objects change their shapes during interaction with the robots’ grippers and end-effectors. Hence, robots usually fail to properly achieve the manipulation task. In addition, soft objects are usually fragile and need to be handled with care. In order to improve the sense of touch for robotic systems, the robots’ grippers and end-effectors are commonly equipped with tactile or distributed force sensors. During manipulation tasks, these sensors allow locally capturing the mechanical properties and optimal grasping forces for the soft object that is being manipulated. The tactile or the force information are used together with vision-based approaches in order to enhance the robot capabilities to manipulate soft objects.   

The preliminary objective of this Special Issue is to promote research contributions and position papers that go beyond the state-of-the-art to address the issue of the design and fabrication of tactile and force sensors for robotic systems dedicated to the manipulation of soft objects. Original papers describing completed and unpublished work that are not currently under review by any other journal, magazine or conference are solicited. The Special Issue encourages contributions in, among others, the following topics:

- Force and tactile sensing;
- Tactile sensor technologies;
- Distributed force sensors;
- Sensor fusion;
- Artificial skin;
- Robot tactile systems;
- Grasping and manipulation of soft objects;
- Deformable object manipulation;
- Slipping detection and strategy avoidance;
- Contact modeling;
- Object physical properties recognition.

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• Grasping and manipulation of soft objects
• Force and tactile sensing
• Artificial skin
• Distributed force sensors