Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US8181540?dq=6,205,432
Timestamp: 2014-11-25 01:01:26
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Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 07754188', 'Application No. 08827237']

Patent US8181540 - Measurement of sliding friction-induced vibrations for biomimetic tactile ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsTactile sensors are disclosed that mimic the human fingertip and its touch receptors. The mechanical components are similar to a fingertip, with a rigid core surrounded by a weakly conductive fluid contained within an elastomeric skin. The deformable properties of the finger pad can be used as part of...http://www.google.com/patents/US8181540?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US8181540 - Measurement of sliding friction-induced vibrations for biomimetic tactile sensingAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS8181540 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 12/417,532Publication dateMay 22, 2012Filing dateApr 2, 2009Priority dateMar 28, 2006Also published asUS20100139418Publication number12417532, 417532, US 8181540 B2, US 8181540B2, US-B2-8181540, US8181540 B2, US8181540B2InventorsGerald E. Loeb, Jeremy Fishel, Nicholas Wettels, Veronica J. Santos, Raymond PeckOriginal AssigneeUniversity Of Southern CaliforniaExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (123), Non-Patent Citations (80), Referenced by (1), Classifications (10), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMeasurement of sliding friction-induced vibrations for biomimetic tactile sensingUS 8181540 B2Abstract Tactile sensors are disclosed that mimic the human fingertip and its touch receptors. The mechanical components are similar to a fingertip, with a rigid core surrounded by a weakly conductive fluid contained within an elastomeric skin. The deformable properties of the finger pad can be used as part of a transduction process. Multiple electrodes can be mounted on the surface of the rigid core and connected to impedance measuring circuitry within the core. External forces deform the fluid path around the electrodes, resulting in a distributed pattern of impedance changes containing information about those forces and the objects that applied them. Strategies are described for extracting features related to the mechanical inputs and using this information for reflexive grip control. Controlling grip force in a prosthetic having sensory feedback information is described. Pressure transducers can provide sensory feedback by measuring micro-vibrations due to sliding friction.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 11/692,718, filed 28 Mar. 2007 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,658,119 B2, issued Feb. 9, 2010), and entitled �Biomimetic Tactile Sensor,� which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/786,607, filed 28 Mar. 2006 and entitled �Biomimetic Tactile Sensor�; the entire contents of both of which applications are incorporated herein by reference. This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 12/122,569, filed 16 May 2008 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,878,075 B2, issued Feb. 1, 2011, and entitled �Biomimetic Tactile Sensor for Control of Grip,� which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/939,009, filed 18 May 2007, and entitled �Biomimetic Tactile Sensor for Control of Grip�; the entire contents of both of which applications are incorporated herein by reference. This application also claims the benefit of the following applications, all of which, and all references cited therein, are incorporated in their entireties herein by reference: U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/041,861, filed 02 Apr. 2008 and entitled �Wearable Measurement System for Shoulder Motion�; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/041,865, filed 02 Apr. 2008 and entitled �Hand Motion Commands Inferred from Voluntary Shoulder Movement�; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/041,867, filed 02 Apr. 2008 and entitled �Measurement of Sliding Friction-Induced Vibration for Tactile Feedback Control�; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/041,868, filed 02 Apr. 2008 and entitled �Elastomer Patterning and Pressure Sensing Enhancements for Functional Transduction in Electro-Hydraulic Impedance Sensing Devices�; and, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/042,182, filed 03 Apr. 2008 and entitled �Spike-Like Regulator�.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH This invention was made with government support under Contract No. EEC 0310723 awarded by the National Science Foundation and Contract No. N66001-06-C-8005 awarded by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. The government has certain rights in the invention.
Engineered tactile sensors detecting mechanical stimuli can be grouped into a number of different categories depending upon their construction. The most common groups are piezoresistive, piezoelectric, capacitive and elastoresistive structures. The common feature of all of these devices is the transduction of mechanical strains or deformations into electrical signals. Tactile sensors are commonly used in the field of robotics and in particular with those robotic devices that pick up and place objects in accordance with programmed instructions; the so-called �pick and place� class of robot. Unfortunately, while it would be desirable for the above-listed groups of tactile sensors to respond in much the same way that the human finger does, many of them can provide only limited information about contact with an object whose position, orientation and mechanical properties are highly predictable. More generalized sensing requires a multiplicity of sensors and extensive electrical connections and signal processing circuitry. It is difficult to integrate these components into the tactile surfaces of manipulators, which are often required to have contoured, compliant surfaces to facilitate handling of various objects. In order to achieve the requisite sensitivity, the individual sensors tend to be relatively fragile and subject to mechanical damage over the wide dynamic range of forces to which they may be exposed. The large number of electrical connections between sensors and signal processing circuitry tend to be difficult and expensive to assemble, difficult to protect from environmental hazards such as water and grit, and difficult or impossible to repair if damaged.
A wide variety of technologies have been applied to solve the tactile sensing problem in robotics and medicine. Transduction mechanisms such as optics, capacitance, piezoresistance, piezoelectricity, ultrasound, conductive polymers, etc. have all yielded viable solutions for detecting either normal pressure distributions, shear forces, or dynamic friction-induced vibrations but have required sensitive and fragile transducers to reside close to the contact surface to accurately detect these events. For example, most micro-electromechanical system (�MEMS�) sensors provide good resolution and sensitivity, but lack the robustness for many applications outside the laboratory.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,646, to Zemel (�Zemel�), is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference and teaches a tactile sensor based on changes in the local electrical resistance presented by a layer of weakly conductive fluid whose shape is deformed by external forces applied to a deformable membrane. Zemel describes the application of a voltage gradient across the entire extent of the fluid by means of electrodes arranged on either side of the array of sensing strips, and the measurement of the local strength of that gradient by differential voltage measurements between adjacent pairs of electrode strips. U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,953 to Dario et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, teaches different techniques and materials that have been utilized for the construction of artificial skin-like sensors.
The following articles are referred to throughout the disclosure and their contents are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties: Lee M. H., Nichols H. R., Tactile sensing for mechatronics�a state of the art survey, Mechatronics 9:1-31 1999. Beccai L., Design and fabrication of a hybrid silicon three-axial force sensor for biomechanical applications Sensors and Actuators, A. Physical. Vol. A120, no. 2: 370-382. 17 May 2005. Mei T., et al., An integrated MEMS three-dimensional tactile sensor with large force range, Sensor and Actuators 80:155-162, 2000. Beebe D., et al., A silicon force sensor for robotics and medicine, Sensors and Actuators A 50:55-65, 1995. Bloor D., et al., A metal-polymer composite with unusual properties, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 38: 2851-2860, 2005. Vasarhelyi G., et al. Effects of the elastic cover on tactile sensor arrays. Sensors and Actuators 132:245-251, 2006. Helsel, M., et al., An impedance tomographic tactile sensor, Sensor and Actuators. Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 93-98. 1988. Russell, R. A., Parkinson, S., Sensing surface shape by touch, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 1 423-428, 1993. Kenaly G., Cutkosky M., Electrorheological fluid-based robotic fingers with tactile sensing, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 1:132-136, 1989. Voyles R., et al., Design of a modular tactile sensor and actuator based on an electrorheological gel, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1:132-136, 1989. Lee Y. K., et al., Mechanical properties of calcium phosphate based dental filling and regeneration materials, Journal of Oral Rehabilitation 30; 418-425, 2003. D. Merrill, et al., Electrical stimulation of excitable tissue: design of efficacious and safe protocols, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 141: 171-198, 2005. A. Dalmia, et al., Electrochemical behavior of gold electrodes modified with self-assembled monolayers with an acidic end group for selective detection of dopamine, Journal of Electrochemistry, 430: 205-214, 1997. B. Piela, P. Wrona, Capacitance of the gold electrode in 0.5 M sulfuric acid solution: AC impedance studies, Journal of Electrochemistry, 388: 69-79, 1994. Johansson R., et al., Somatosensory control of precision grip during unpredictable pulling loads, Changes in load force amplitude, Experimental Brain Research 89: 181-191, 1992. Birznieks I., et al, Encoding of direction of fingertip forces by human tactile afferents, Journal of Neuroscience. 21:8222-8237, 2001. Flanagan J. R., et al. Control of fingertip forces in multi-digit manipulation, Journal of Neurophysiology. 81:1706-1717, 1999. Johansson R. S., Westling G., Roles of glabrous skin receptors and sensorimotor memory in automatic control of precision grip when lifting rougher or more slippery objects, Experimental Brain Research. 56:550-564, 1984. Johansson R. S., Westling G., Signals in tactile afferents from the fingers eliciting adaptive motor responses during precision grip, Experimental Brain Research, 66:141-154, 1987. Westling G., Johansson R. S., Responses in glabrous skin mechanoreceptors during precision grip in humans, Experimental Brain Research. 66:128-140, 1987. K. Hornik, et al., Multilayer feed forward networks are universal approximators, Neural Networks, 2(5):359-366, 1989. Park, J. and I. Sandberg, Approximation and radial-basis-function networks, Neural Computation 5, 305-316, 1993. Caudill, M.; Butler, C., Understanding Neural Networks: Computer Explorations; Volume 1: Basic Networks; The MIT Press; Cambridge, Mass., 1992. D. Yamada, et al., Artificial Finger Skin having ridges and distributed tactile sensors used for grasp force control, Proc. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 686-691, 2001. Y. Mukaibo, et al., Development of a texture sensor emulating the tissue structure and perceptual mechanism of human fingers, Proc. of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2576-2581, 2005. Johansson R. S. and Westling G., Role of glabrous skin receptors and sensorimotor memory in automatic control of precision grip when lifting rougher and more slippery objects, Experimental Brain Research 56: 550-564, 1984. Cole K. J., Johansson R., Friction at the digit-object interface scales the sensory-motor transformation for grip responses to pulling loads, Experimental Brain Research, 95: 523-532, 1993. Johansson R., et al., Somatosensory control of precision grip during unpredictable pulling loads, II Changes in load force rate, Experimental Brain Research 89: 192-203, 1992. Gordon A., et al., Memory representation underlying motor commands used during manipulation of common and novel objects, Journal of Neurophysiology 69: 1789-1796, 1993. Johansson R. S., Birznieks I., First spikes in ensembles of human tactile afferents code complex spatial fingertip events, Nature Neuroscience 7:170-177, 2004. Butterfass, J., DLR-Hand II: Next generation of a dexterous robot hand, Proc. of the 2001 IEEE, International Conference on Robotics & Automation, Seoul, Korea, May 21-26, 2001. Mountcastle V. B., The view from within: Pathways to the study of perception, The John Hopkins Medical Journal, 136:109-131, 1975. Wettels N., et al., Biomimetic Tactile Sensor for Control of Grip, IEEE Rehabilitation Robotics, 2007, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp 109-114, 2001. N. Wettels, et al., �Biomimetic tactile sensor array� Advanced Robotics, vol. 22, no. 7, June 2008.
SUMMARY Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to biomimetic sensors, and related structures and processes. Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure include sensory devices that have features comparable to features found in biological systems. In particular, they may use biomimetic mechanical structures similar to those found in the finger tip to endow a set of simple, robust electronic sensors with a wide range of modalities and sensitivities similar to those found in biological mechanoreceptors. Exemplary sensory devices include a sensor assembly whose basic form and function are similar to that of a human finger tip. The sensory device may have a biomimetic shape of a core with covering skin and pulp (fluid reservoir) that results in distinctive and readily detectable patterns of impedance changes across an array of electrodes disposed on the core, to take advantage of the various distortions of the pulp produced by the contact parameters to be detected and discriminated. High detection sensitivity and wide dynamic range can be achieved for monitoring and/controlling the forces between a manipulator and objects being manipulated. The biomimetic designs of such sensor assemblies can allow for detection of stimulus features, e.g., by feature extraction circuitry, including those features that may be most useful for automatic adjustment of contact force to achieve and maintain stable and efficient grasp of an object. An exemplary embodiment comprises a device through which a set of information is generated concerning tactile interaction between a manipulator and an object to be manipulated and recognized. Such a device can be incorporated into autonomous robots, telerobots or prosthetic limbs. The tactile information may be generated either by robot or prosthetic finger tips.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments of the tactile sensory system and method and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the biomimetic tactile sensor systems and methods can be practiced. The term �exemplary� used throughout this description means �serving as an example, instance, or illustration,� and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the tactile sensory systems and methods. It will be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that the tactile sensory systems and methods may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the tactile sensory systems and methods.
i) Impedance Sensing�electrodes 6 on the surface of the core 1 that are used to detect changes in the impedance through the weakly conductive fluid that arise as a result of deformation of the overlying skin 16;
ii) Pressure Sensing�one or more pressure sensors 10 that detect pressure changes and vibrations conveyed through a fluidic path 4 from the skin 16 to the pressure sensors 10; and
iii) Temperature Sensing�a temperature sensor (e.g., thermistor 15) capable of detecting temperature and temperature fluctuations.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, the inner surface of skin 16 can include asperities 18 molded into the contour of the skin, for example, by forming skin 16 in an injection mold whose corresponding surface is a negative of the desired pattern of asperities 18. Other methods of fabrication of textures would be obvious to one normally skilled in the art, including photolithography, incorporation of soluble particles, plasma etching, etc. Related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/692,718 teaches that it may be desirable to have the inside surface of the skin patterned with �bumps and/or ridges�.
If the sensor assembly 100 is heated, and contacted with an external object, its temperature will change appropriately with the mass, temperature, contact surface area, thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the object. One method of heating the finger would be through the use of a heater. These tend to be bulky and would require a controller for proper operation. Instead of using a heater, the power dissipation energy from the electronics of the control board, 9, could be used to heat the finger. The heat dissipated by the microcontroller 230 depends on its clock frequency and duty cycle of active use as opposed to �sleep states�. By utilizing a feedback signal from the thermistor 15, controller 400 can adjust the clock frequency or operation duty cycle of microcontroller 230 to heat the finger to the desired temperature. By keeping track of the amount of energy so applied, it is possible to estimate the ambient temperature around sensor assembly 100 according to principles of thermodynamics that would be obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art.
One skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments and/or portions of embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in/with computer-readable storage media (e.g., hardware, software, firmware, or any combinations of such), and can be distributed and/or practiced over one or more networks. Steps or operations (or portions of such) as described herein, including processing functions to derive, learn, or calculate formula and/or mathematical models utilized and/or produced by the embodiments of the present disclosure, can be processed by one or more suitable processors, e.g., central processing units (�CPUs) implementing suitable code/instructions in any suitable language (machine dependent on machine independent).
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IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 17, No. 1, Feb. 2008, pp. 45-57.* Cited by examinerReferenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleWO2014043037A1Sep 9, 2013Mar 20, 2014SynTouch, LLCCompliant tactile sensor with fluid-filled, sponge-like materialClassifications U.S. Classification73/862.59, 73/645, 901/33, 73/862.581International ClassificationG01L1/10, G01L1/02, G01L7/08, G01L11/04Cooperative ClassificationG01L5/228European ClassificationG01L5/22K2Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionJul 30, 2009ASAssignmentFree format text: CONFIRMATORY LICENSE;ASSIGNOR:UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA;REEL/FRAME:23030/829Effective date: 20090416Owner name: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION,VIRGINIAFree format text: CONFIRMATORY LICENSE;ASSIGNOR:UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA;REEL/FRAME:023030/0829Owner name: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, VIRGINIAJun 1, 2009ASAssignmentFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LOEB, GERALD E.;FISHEL, JEREMY;WETTELS, NICHOLAS AND OTHERS;SIGNED BETWEEN 20090508 AND 20090515;REEL/FRAME:22762/298Owner name: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA,CALIFORNIAFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LOEB, GERALD E.;FISHEL, JEREMY;WETTELS, NICHOLAS;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20090508 TO 20090515;REEL/FRAME:022762/0298Owner name: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, CALIFORNIARotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google