Fully 3D printable Robot Hand and Soft Tactile Sensor based on Air-pressure and Capacitive Proximity Sensing

Abstract

Soft tactile sensors can enable robots to grasp objects easily and stably by simultaneously providing tactile data and mechanical compliance to robotic hands. If there are low-cost and easy-to-build robotic hands equipped with soft tactile sensors, they would be highly accessible and facilitate many robotics projects. To this end, we propose an accessible robot hand capable of tactile sensing, which can be produced through digital fabrication. We made the robot hand using commercial servo motors as well as components 3D printed from PETG, TPU, and conductive TPU. These materials allow the robot hand to have a soft, durable, and even functional structure. Specifically, the soft fingertip was crafted from TPU and conductive TPU, and their mechanical and electrical properties enable easy implementation of tactile sensing capabilities, such as force and capacitive touch, simply by adding off-the-shelf sensors (air-pressure and capacitance). The proposed robot hand could effectively sense interaction forces and proximity to conductive objects, and its utilization in various tasks was also demonstrated successfully.