Design of a Lightweight Inflatable Sensing Sleeve for Increased Adaptability and Safety of Legged Robots

We propose a lightweight inflatable sensing sleeve for increased adaptability and safety of legged robots. The sleeve contains an air chamber that can be actively inflated for protecting the host robot from external impacts using the cushioning effect. In addition, capacitive touch-sensitive pads are integrated on the surface of the sleeve for detecting contacts made to the sleeve. Therefore, robots can acquire tactile information from their surroundings for increased adaptability and maneuverability. This paper presents the design and the fabrication of the inflatable sleeve and capacitive touch pads. Characterization tests were carried out to evaluate the sensitivity and durability of the touch pads and the safety effect of the inflated sleeve. The proposed sleeve was also integrated with a robotic leg to demonstrate how it could be implemented to a legged robot for controlling motions.