Design and Evaluation of Capacitive Smart Transducer for a Forestry Crane Gripper

Stable grasps are essential for robots handling objects. This is especially true for "robotized" large industrial machines as heavy and bulky objects that are unintentionally dropped by the machine can lead to substantial damages and pose a significant safety risk. Consequently, adding a proximity and tactile sensing to such large industrial machinery can help to mitigate this problem. In this paper, we present a sensing system for proximity/tactile sensing in gripper claws of a forestry crane. In order to avoid difficulties with respect to the installation of cables (in particular in retrofitting of existing machinery), the sensors are truly wireless and can be powered using energy harvesting, leading to autarkic, i.e., self-contained, sensors. The sensing elements are connected to a measurement system which transmits the measurement data to the crane automation computer via Bluetooth low energy (BLE) compliant to IEEE 1451.0 (TEDs) specification for eased logical system integration. We demonstrate that the sensor system can be fully integrated in the grasper and that it can withstand the challenging environmental conditions. We present experimental evaluation of detection in various grasping scenarios such as grasping at an angle, corner grasping, improper closure of the gripper and proper grasp for logs of three different sizes. Results indicate the ability to detect and differentiate between good and poor grasping configurations.