MAPS Tactile Force Sensor Simulator

About

This library implements an algorithm for simulating the response of an array-type tactile force sensor when pressed against rigid objects represented by 3D models, as described in the paper

• Zachary Pezzementi, Erica Jantho, Lucas Estrade, Gregory Hager. "Characterization and Simulation of Tactile Sensors". In Proceedings of the Haptics Symposium, Waltham, MA, March 2010. pp. 199-205.

If you use this library in your work, please cite the paper above. We would also like you to let us know that you're using it.

Sensing Model Diagram

The general idea is illustrated in the excerpted figure above. A tactile sensor is modeled as a camera whose viewing volume is defined by a layer of deformable material covering it. Penetrations of the covering map to displacements and in turn to forces detected by the sensors. These mappings are approximated as described in the paper by applying a Gaussian point spread function and reshaping the responses of individual sensor elements, and each step is efficiently implemented in software using GLSL shaders.

Screenshot from Sample Application

Above is a screenshot from one of the Example Programs, showing the simulator in action. A (red) 3D model of an H-shaped object is being pressed against two simulated sensors, shown in blue on the right with a translucent yellow covering. The response of the two 4x6 sensors is shown in the window on the left.

MAPS-TFSS is licensed for open-source use under GPL-v3.

Dependencies

The build configuration files are for CMake, which allows cross-platform support. We have successfully built the code on the following OSs, either using GCC (4.2.1+) or the indicated compiler, though it may work on other systems as well (or earlier compiler versions), provided all other dependencies (below) are met:

• Windows XP / 7 (Visual Studio 2003, 2008, 2010 or MinGW+GCC)
• Linux (Ubuntu 7.10+)

MAPS-TFSS has also been built and run on Mac OSX (10.5+) using MacPorts, but shader output seems not to be consistent with other platforms'.

The sensor simulation also depends on some external libraries:

• The Boost header-only libraries
• Some implementation of OpenGL
• glut or freeglut
• GLEW, the OpenGL Extension Wrangler

Detailed instructions for getting these libraries and setting everything up in Windows or Linux are available in the Installation Instructions section.

Output

This project generates three libraries

• Utils Reusable utility code (graphics setup, 3D math, and 3D model handling)
• SimTactileSensor Generic simulated tactile sensor code
• SimPPS Sample code for simulating a specific sensor system

and two example programs, which are further described in Examples:

• TestObjectAndSensorViewer.cpp - Demonstrates usage of SimTactileSensor
• TestPPSMockUp.cpp - Similar demo using SimPPS