BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:IEEE vTools.Events//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20210314T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20211107T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20220316T223850Z UID:ECFFF408-972F-4350-8D6C-39A9DCAEB3B9 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210923T170000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210923T190000 DESCRIPTION:Current robotic sensing is mainly visual\, which is useful up u ntil the point of contact. To understand how an object is being gripped\, tactile feedback is needed. Human grasp is gentle yet firm\, with tactile touch feedback. Ras Labs makes Synthetic Muscle™\, a class of electroact ive polymer (EAP) based materials and actuators that sense pressure from g entle touch to high impact\, controllably contract and expand at low volta ge (battery levels)\, and attenuate force. The development of this technol ogy towards sensing provides fingertip-like sensors that are able to detec t very light pressures down to 0.01 N and even 0.005 N\, with a wide press ure range over 50 N. By using these soft yet robust FingerTip™ sensors\, immediate feedback is generated at the first point of contact. Because th ese elastomeric pads provide a soft compliant interface\, the first point of contact does not apply excessive force\, allowing the object to be gent ly handled and the force applied to the object to be controlled. The senso r also detects changes in pressure location on its surface\, i.e.\, direct ional glide provided real time feedback\, making it possible to detect and prevent slippage. We discuss uses and applications for these sensors and grippers\, the machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) used for object identification and determination of good grip (position\, grip force\, no slip\, no wobble) for pick-and-place and other applications.\n \nLenore Rasmussen\, PhD\, is the CTO and Founder of Ras Labs\, and she is also an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)\, wher e she created and teaches the graduate course “Smart Materials and Actua tors (and Biomimicry)” through the Robotics Engineering Department. Her corporate experience includes Johnson & Johnson. While in grad school at P urdue\, a relative suffered a traumatic farm injury\, and she investigated prostheses\, but was disappointed with what was available in the marketpl ace. Her drive to advance prosthetic technology led her to invent Syntheti c Muscle™ – electroactive polymers (EAPs) that contract and expand at low voltages and sense pressure\, which garnered attention in the robotics community. Dr. Rasmussen is a recognized global leader in the EAP industr y with multiple patents and publications\, presentations at global confere nces\, including the SPIE Electroactive Polymers Actuators and Devices (EA PAD) Conferences\, Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) conferences and world congresses\, and robotics meetings and consortia\, and multi-med ia communication\, including NASA TV. She holds a PhD in Chemistry\, Polym er Chemistry specialty\, from Virginia Tech\, MS in Biology\, Biophysics S pecialty\, from Purdue University\, and double major Bachelor of Science d egrees in biochemistry and chemistry from Virginia Tech.\n\nCalum Briggs\, MS\, Robotics Engineer\, in addition to robotics engineering\, is our har dware-software integrator and a creative force at Ras Labs. He holds a MS in Robotics Engineering from WPI and double major Bachelor of Science degr ees in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Robotics Engineering from W PI.\n\nVirtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/280391 LOCATION:Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/280391 ORGANIZER:ieee-ras@nedharvey.com SEQUENCE:2 SUMMARY:Sensitive and Robust Tactile Pressure Sensors for Robotic Grippers URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/280391 X-ALT-DESC:Description: <br /><p>Current robotic sensing is mainly visual\, which is useful up until the point of contact.&nbsp\; To understand how a n object is being gripped\, tactile feedback is needed. Human grasp is gen tle yet firm\, with tactile touch feedback.&nbsp\; Ras Labs makes Syntheti c Muscle&trade\;\, a class of electroactive polymer (EAP) based materials and actuators that sense pressure from gentle touch to high impact\, contr ollably contract and expand at low voltage (battery levels)\, and attenuat e force.&nbsp\; The development of this technology towards sensing provide s fingertip-like sensors that are able to detect very light pressures down to 0.01 N and even 0.005 N\, with a wide pressure range over 50 N.&nbsp\; By using these soft yet robust FingerTip&trade\; sensors\, immediate feed back is generated at the first point of contact.&nbsp\; Because these elas tomeric pads provide a soft compliant interface\, the first point of conta ct does not apply excessive force\, allowing the object to be gently handl ed and the force applied to the object to be controlled. The sensor also d etects changes in pressure location on its surface\, i.e.\, directional gl ide provided real time feedback\, making it possible to detect and prevent slippage. We discuss uses and applications for these sensors and grippers \, the machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) used for obj ect identification and determination of good grip (position\, grip force\, no slip\, no wobble) for pick-and-place and other applications.&nbsp\;</p >\n<p>Lenore Rasmussen\, PhD\, is the CTO and Founder of Ras Labs\, and sh e is also an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)\, where she created and teaches the graduate course &ldquo\;Smart Materials and Actuators (and Biomimicry)&rdquo\; through the Robotics Engineering De partment.&nbsp\; Her corporate experience includes Johnson &amp\; Johnson. &nbsp\; While in grad school at Purdue\, a relative suffered a traumatic f arm injury\, and she investigated prostheses\, but was disappointed with w hat was available in the marketplace.&nbsp\; Her&nbsp\;drive to advance pr osthetic technology led her to invent Synthetic Muscle&trade\; &ndash\; el ectroactive polymers (EAPs) that contract and expand at low voltages and s ense pressure\, which garnered attention in the robotics community.&nbsp\; Dr. Rasmussen is a recognized global leader in the EAP industry with mult iple patents and publications\, presentations at global&nbsp\;conferences\ , including the&nbsp\;SPIE Electroactive&nbsp\;Polymers Actuators and Devi ces (EAPAD) Conferences\, Orthotic&nbsp\;and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) conferences and world congresses\, and robotics meetings and consortia\, and multi-media communication\, including NASA TV.&nbsp\; She holds a PhD in Chemistry\, Polymer Chemistry specialty\, from Virginia Tech\, MS in Bi ology\, Biophysics Specialty\, from Purdue University\, and double major B achelor of Science degrees in biochemistry and chemistry from Virginia Tec h.</p>\n<p>Calum Briggs\, MS\, Robotics Engineer\, in addition to robotics engineering\, is our hardware-software integrator and a creative force at Ras Labs.&nbsp\; He holds a MS in Robotics Engineering from WPI and doubl e major Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Robotics Engineering from WPI.</p> END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR