TACTILE SENSOR ARRAY: ROBOTIC SYSTEM AND MANUFACTURING METHOD UTILIZING SAME

TACTILE SENSOR ARRAY: ROBOTIC SYSTEM AND MANUFACTURING METHOD UTILIZING SAME A movable part of a robot, such as the fingers of the robot hand, are provided with an array of tactile elements mounted on a substrate. Each element includes a magnetic dipole embedded in a compliant medium on one side of the substrate and a magnetic sensor on the other side of the substrate. The dipole and sensor are in parallel planes. A force or torque deforms the compliant medium and displaces the magnetic dipoles with respect to the sensor. The sensor detects the change in magnetic field and produces an electrical signal which is used to control the robot. Magnetoresistive sensors are preferred. To detect torque, each element illustratively includes four sensors arranged at 90.degree. to one another and a magnetic dipole oriented at 45.degree. to each sensor. Also described is the handling of objects by a robot having such a tactile array in its gripper or hand, and the use of a robot to bring an object into contact with such a tactile array mounted, for example, on a table top, thereby enabling pattern recognition functions.