Contact detection in a rib-reinforced vacuum driven actuator with an embedded CSR bridge sensor

Stable control and accurate sensing are necessary for the safe operation of soft robots, and flexible sensors that can follow the flexible movements of soft robots are needed. In this paper, flexible bending sensors are embedded in a rib-reinforced vacuum-driven actuator with no risk of rupture, considering the application of flexible sensors to human cooperative work and wearable devices. The bending sensor is a bridge circuit with conductive silicone rubber (CSR) for variable resistance. The CSR bridge sensor consists of four CSRs that capture deformation and a circuit with a conductive coating spray printed on a laminated sheet. The sensor value is the output voltage divided by the input voltage, and the effects of the drift and input voltage variations are canceled out. The bending sensor embedded in the silicone actuator has a linear relationship, and the rib-reinforced vacuum driven actuator provides angle PID control for continuously changing reference inputs by feeding back sensor estimated angle. Furthermore, contact detection was established by using the pressure estimated from the CSR bridge sensor and the pressure sensor error as the threshold. The algorithm provides reliable contact detection and force estimation with actuator response thresholds and anti-chattering.