空気圧袋の内圧計測による力センシングモデル

抄録

Inflatable robotic arms with light weight and softness have been proposed to expand the application fields of robots. In this paper, we develop a force sensor made of a plastic sheet air-bag. Due to the structure and material, this force sensor has lightweight and flexible features. Therefore, this sensor is suitable for inflatable robotic arms. A force sensing model is proposed in this paper to estimate external force from internal pressure of the air-bag. The model is derived by measuring the contact area between the air-bag and the contact plane. Furthermore, we experimentally confirm the usefulness of the proposed sensing model.