Haptic Exploration for Navigation Tasks using a Visuo-Haptic Sensor

Abstract—A system is presented for the haptic exploration of objects in a household environment. Haptic properties are acquired using a passive, deformable sensor tip mounted on a platform. The sensor deformation is measured visually, allowing for a flexible and low-cost design. Navigation of simple robots, such as vacuum cleaners, is improved by active manipulation. Simple service robots for households, such as the vacuum cleaner Roomba, see [1], currently rely on rather simple sensors for navigation. Some models navigate randomly, changing direction when an obstacle is hit, some build a map with static obstacles using a camera or a laser scanner. Currently, these platforms do not actively interact with objects – they rather try to avoid anything they encounter. The performance of such robots may be improved by allowing simple controlled interaction with objects. For instance, if obstacles block access to a region of the map, one of them could be pushed out of the way. I