Look-to-Touch: A Vision-Enhanced Proximity and Tactile Sensor for Distance and Geometry Perception in Robotic Manipulation

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Dong, Yueshi, Ren, Jieji, Liu, Zhenle, Peng, Zhanxuan, Yuan, Zihao, Zhang, Ningbin, Gu, Guoying
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Dong, Yueshi
Ren, Jieji
Liu, Zhenle
Peng, Zhanxuan
Yuan, Zihao
Zhang, Ningbin
Gu, Guoying
author_facet Dong, Yueshi
Ren, Jieji
Liu, Zhenle
Peng, Zhanxuan
Yuan, Zihao
Zhang, Ningbin
Gu, Guoying
contents Camera-based tactile sensors provide robots with a high-performance tactile sensing approach for environment perception and dexterous manipulation. However, achieving comprehensive environmental perception still requires cooperation with additional sensors, which makes the system bulky and limits its adaptability to unstructured environments. In this work, we present a vision-enhanced camera-based dual-modality sensor, which realizes full-scale distance sensing from 50 cm to -3 mm while simultaneously keeping ultra-high-resolution texture sensing and reconstruction capabilities. Unlike conventional designs with fixed opaque gel layers, our sensor features a partially transparent sliding window, enabling mechanical switching between tactile and visual modes. For each sensing mode, a dynamic distance sensing model and a contact geometry reconstruction model are proposed. Through integration with soft robotic fingers, we systematically evaluate the performance of each mode, as well as in their synergistic operation. Experimental results show robust distance tracking across various speeds, nanometer-scale roughness detection, and sub-millimeter 3D texture reconstruction. The combination of both modalities improves the robot's efficiency in executing grasping tasks. Furthermore, the embedded mechanical transmission in the sensor allows for fine-grained intra-hand adjustments and precise manipulation, unlocking new capabilities for soft robotic hands.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_10280
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Look-to-Touch: A Vision-Enhanced Proximity and Tactile Sensor for Distance and Geometry Perception in Robotic Manipulation
Dong, Yueshi
Ren, Jieji
Liu, Zhenle
Peng, Zhanxuan
Yuan, Zihao
Zhang, Ningbin
Gu, Guoying
Robotics
Camera-based tactile sensors provide robots with a high-performance tactile sensing approach for environment perception and dexterous manipulation. However, achieving comprehensive environmental perception still requires cooperation with additional sensors, which makes the system bulky and limits its adaptability to unstructured environments. In this work, we present a vision-enhanced camera-based dual-modality sensor, which realizes full-scale distance sensing from 50 cm to -3 mm while simultaneously keeping ultra-high-resolution texture sensing and reconstruction capabilities. Unlike conventional designs with fixed opaque gel layers, our sensor features a partially transparent sliding window, enabling mechanical switching between tactile and visual modes. For each sensing mode, a dynamic distance sensing model and a contact geometry reconstruction model are proposed. Through integration with soft robotic fingers, we systematically evaluate the performance of each mode, as well as in their synergistic operation. Experimental results show robust distance tracking across various speeds, nanometer-scale roughness detection, and sub-millimeter 3D texture reconstruction. The combination of both modalities improves the robot's efficiency in executing grasping tasks. Furthermore, the embedded mechanical transmission in the sensor allows for fine-grained intra-hand adjustments and precise manipulation, unlocking new capabilities for soft robotic hands.
title Look-to-Touch: A Vision-Enhanced Proximity and Tactile Sensor for Distance and Geometry Perception in Robotic Manipulation
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.10280