Inspired by the "last inch" problem in robotic manipulation, the Kennedy group at Stanford has developed a tactile sensor and calibration method for machine-learning-based robotic manipulation.
Robots will need sensory skins to safely interact with humans and navigate more complex environments than factory work cells. This invention is a new stretchable pneumatic sensor skin that can feel its surroundings and reach for objects in constrained environments.
Stanford researchers have developed a technique to interpret contact events between a human and a device equipped with a force sensor. It can detect and classify distinct touch interactions such as tap, touch, grab, and slip.
The Salisbury lab has developed a dexterous robotic hand with active fingertip surfaces for grasping and manipulation. Spherical or oblate graspers exhibit two coupled degrees of freedom, steering and rolling, allowing objects to easily be manipulated by the wheels.
Stanford researchers at the Salisbury Lab have prototyped a wearable, articulated robotic device that can be attached to a person at the hip or other location to augment human task productivity. This mechanical "third arm" has many uses such as assisting abled users (e.g.
Researchers in Professor Zhenan Bao's group at Stanford University have developed a biomimetic soft electronic skin (e-skin) with multiple levels of biologically inspired patterning that can detect the direction of applied forces.
Stanford researchers at the Cutkosky Lab have patented a method of towing or pushing an object using a micro-robot. This micro-robot can drag loads almost 2000x its weight by using controllable dry adhesive for robotic "feet" that can develop huge amounts of shear force.
Stanford researchers at the Cutkosky Lab have patented a low cost, passively activated gripper that can grasp large curved, textured or delicate objects using an adhesive film.