An engineering team has built a hybrid robotic system that can grasp a wide variety of items, from small and delicate to large and bulky to gradually minimize human labor.
Anatomy of Sensors
Strain sensors measure pressure and are one-way robots “feel” how much pressure should be applied in a certain situation, such as to pick up or place an object.
A sensor’s working window typically determines how much it can stretch while still maintaining its sensing qualities as well as a high signal-to-noise ratio. The latter gives the sensor more accuracy in terms of differentiating between subtle vibrations and minute movements of the robotic arm, researchers said.
What NUS researchers achieved is to develop a production process to create customizable, ultra-sensitive sensors with a wide working window and high signal-to-noise ratios, they said. Previously, it was very difficult to produce customizable sensors suited to particular applications, they said.