Acoustic Contact Sensing for Non-Invasive Robotic Touch Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing contact sensing technologies, such as capacitive and resistive sensors, face limitations in accurately detecting contact characteristics and distinguishing external objects from internal noise, especially in robotic systems, and are often costly and invasive.
Innovation Solution
The use of active acoustic vibrational sensors that transmit and detect acoustic signals within a device's components to identify physical contact, including location, pressure, and object density, through a transducer and receiver pair acoustically coupled to conductive materials, allowing for non-invasive and cost-effective contact sensing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If capacitive or resistive touch sensors are used to detect contact, then contact detection capability is provided, but the system becomes costly and invasive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional capacitive or resistive touch sensors with an acoustic sensing system that uses a transducer to generate acoustic waves and a receiver to detect reverberations. This substitution eliminates the need for invasive sensor arrays while maintaining contact detection capability through acoustic signal analysis
Solution Approach 2:
The acoustic sensing system serves multiple functions: detecting contact presence, determining contact location, measuring contact pressure, and identifying object density. This multi-functionality replaces what would otherwise require multiple separate sensor systems, reducing overall system complexity and cost
2Measurement precision
If traditional sensors are used to distinguish external objects from internal noise, then detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses acoustic vibrations generated by a transducer to probe the device structure. By analyzing the reverberations and changes in acoustic signals, the system can distinguish between external contacts and internal noise sources based on their different acoustic signatures, achieving high detection accuracy without complex sensor arrays
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors acoustic reverberations and compares them against expected patterns. When deviations are detected that indicate external contact, the system can adjust its operation accordingly. This feedback mechanism enables accurate distinction between internal noise and external contacts through signal processing rather than hardware complexity
3Measurement precision
If acoustic sensors are implemented to detect contact characteristics, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the transducer and receiver into an integrated acoustic sensing system that leverages existing device structures. By acoustically coupling these components to device components like mechanical linkages, the system achieves precise contact characteristic measurement without adding significant structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The acoustic waves serve as an intermediary that transfers information about contact characteristics from the external environment to the sensing system. This intermediary approach allows the system to measure contact pressure, location, and object density indirectly through acoustic signal analysis, avoiding the need for direct physical contact sensors
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise detection of contact characteristics and object properties, distinguishing external contacts from internal noise, and controlling robotic operations based on these detections, with minimal system architecture changes, providing a robust and economically advantageous solution.
Implementation Method 1
Acoustic signals can be transmitted into a component of a robotic device, such as a mechanical arm linkage, and the reverberations of the acoustic signal within the component can be detected
Implementation Method 2
The receiver detects the acoustic reverberations and generates electrical detection signals that are representative of the acoustic reverberations
Implementation Method 3
An acoustically conductive component is a component formed from a material or materials which provide a conduction path through which acoustic vibrations in at least a range of frequencies can propagate without undue attenuation
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for causing a transducer to transmit an acoustic input signal into a member of a device. Receiving a detection signal representing reverberations of the input signal traveling within the member from a receiver. Detecting a contact of the member with an object external to the member based on a change in the detection signal, where the change in the detection signal represents an alteration in the reverberations of the input signal caused by the contact of the member with the object. Determining a position along the member of a point of the contact of the member with the object based on the change in the detection signal.