Soft and Flexible Large-Strain Piezoresistive Sensor Mounted on an Under-Actuated Robotic Hand for Object Shape Classification

Soft and flexible large-strain piezoresistive sensors can be widely used in robotic applications due to their simplicity and being lightweight. In this study, combining conductive filler of carbon black with elastomers, a soft elastomer strain sensor that can reach very large elongations was presented. These sensors have good linearity and extensibility. Stress relaxation does affect the accuracy of the sensor, but this can be minimized. Here, these sensors are used in an underactuated robotic hand, where they can determine the bending angles of the fingers. Experiments demonstrated that the sensors could efficiently help the hand classify object shapes with only a single grasp. In addition, the results demonstrate that the proposed parameterized classification method is a quick and efficient approach to classify objects