Scaling Fabric-Based Piezoresistive Sensor Arrays for Whole-Body Tactile Sensing

2025-08-28

AI Summary

To address bottlenecks in fabric-based piezoresistive sensor arrays for full-body tactile sensing—including complex wiring, low data throughput, and poor system reliability—this work proposes a scalable, square-meter-scale tactile sensing system. The core method introduces a novel cascaded SPI bus topology, replacing conventional USB hubs and wireless solutions to enable high-speed, synchronized readout of over 8,000 sensing units. Integrated with open-source fabric sensors, custom low-noise readout circuits, and hardware-level crosstalk suppression, the system establishes a low-latency, highly robust daisy-chained communication architecture. It operates stably at ≥50 FPS, enabling real-time, compliant grasping of fragile objects and full-body force feedback control on robotic platforms. Experimental validation confirms the system’s effectiveness and practicality for high-density, large-area tactile interaction applications.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Humans and AI: Brain-Sensing and Analysis
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web

Abstract

Scaling tactile sensing for robust whole-body manipulation is a significant challenge, often limited by wiring complexity, data throughput, and system reliability. This paper presents a complete architecture designed to overcome these barriers. Our approach pairs open-source, fabric-based sensors with custom readout electronics that reduce signal crosstalk to less than 3.3% through hardware-based mitigation. Critically, we introduce a novel, daisy-chained SPI bus topology that avoids the practical limitations of common wireless protocols and the prohibitive wiring complexity of USB hub-based systems. This architecture streams synchronized data from over 8,000 taxels across 1 square meter of sensing area at update rates exceeding 50 FPS, confirming its suitability for real-time control. We validate the system's efficacy in a whole-body grasping task where, without feedback, the robot's open-loop trajectory results in an uncontrolled application of force that slowly crushes a deformable cardboard box. With real-time tactile feedback, the robot transforms this motion into a gentle, stable grasp, successfully manipulating the object without causing structural damage. This work provides a robust and well-characterized platform to enable future research in advanced whole-body control and physical human-robot interaction.

Problem

• Scaling tactile sensing for whole-body robot manipulation
• Reducing wiring complexity and improving data throughput
• Enabling real-time control with synchronized sensor data

Innovation

• Fabric-based sensors with crosstalk reduction
• Daisy-chained SPI bus topology implementation
• Real-time data streaming from 8000 taxels