Detection and measurement of wear of robotic manipulator touch points
A robotic system includes a robotic manipulator having one or more contact pads. The contact pads have features therein that are detectable to determine or measure a degree to which they have worn down. Such features may include fluorescent materials, colorful materials, and/or RFID tags. A robotic environment may include one or more sensors to detect such features, and may be configured to generate a signal indicating that one or more contact pads are in need of maintenance.
1. A contact pad for use in a robotic manipulator, comprising:
a body having a proximal end and a distal end opposite to the proximal end across a length of the contact pad, a first side and a second side opposite to the first side across a thickness of the contact pad, and a first edge and a second edge opposite to the first edge across a width of the contact pad;
a touch point at the distal end of the body; and
a layer of fluorescent material embedded within the body.
2. The contact pad of claim 1 wherein the layer of fluorescent material has a visible color that is different than a visible color of the rest of the body of the contact pad.
3. The contact pad of claim 1 , wherein:
the layer of fluorescent material includes an embedded radio-frequency identification tag; and
a sensor external to the body is configured to detect incident radio waves emitted from the embedded radio-frequency identification tag such that a degree of wear of the body can be determined based on an intensity of incident radio waves detected by the sensor.
4. The contact pad of claim 1 wherein the contact pad is formed from an electrically conductive material.
5. The contact pad of claim 1 wherein the contact pad includes an aperture that extends from the first side to the second side.
6. The contact pad of claim 1 wherein the contact pad includes a distal layer of material and a proximal layer of material, and the layer of fluorescent material is located between the distal layer of material and the proximal layer of material.
7. The contact pad of claim 6 wherein a length of the layer of fluorescent material along the length of the body of the contact pad is less than 25% of a length of the distal layer of material along the length of the contact pad and less than 25% of a length of the proximal layer of material along the length of the contact pad.
8. The contact pad of claim 6 wherein a length of the distal layer of material along the length of the body of the contact pad is less than 25% of a length of the proximal layer of material along the length of the body of the contact pad.
9. The contact pad of claim 6 wherein the layer of fluorescent material is oriented substantially parallel to the thickness of the body of the contact pad, within 30° of perpendicular to the length of the body of the contact pad, and within 30° of parallel to the width of the body of the contact pad.
10. The contact pad of claim 6 wherein the layer of fluorescent material is oriented within 30° of parallel to the touch point at the distal end of the body of the contact pad.
11. A robotic system comprising:
a robotic manipulator including a contact pad, wherein the contact pad includes a body having a proximal end and a distal end opposite to the proximal end across a length of the contact pad, a first side and a second side opposite to the first side across a thickness of the contact pad, and a first edge and a second edge opposite to the first edge across a width of the contact pad;
a touch point at the distal end of the body of the contact pad; and
a radio-frequency identification tag embedded within the body of the contact pad.
12. The robotic system of claim 11 wherein the radio-frequency identification tag is embedded within a layer of fluorescent material within the body of the contact pad.
13. The contact pad of claim 12 wherein the layer of fluorescent material has a visible color that is different than a visible color of the rest of the body of the contact pad.
14. A robotic system, comprising:
a robotic manipulator including a contact pad, wherein the contact pad includes a body having a proximal end and a distal end opposite to the proximal end across a length of the contact pad, a first side and a second side opposite to the first side across a thickness of the contact pad, and a first edge and a second edge opposite to the first edge across a width of the contact pad;
a touch point at the distal end of the body of the contact pad;
a source of electromagnetic radiation embedded within the body of the contact pad; and
a sensor configured to detect electromagnetic radiation generated by the source of electromagnetic radiation embedded within the body of the contact pad and communicate a measurement of the electromagnetic radiation to a control system.
15. The robotic system of claim 14 , wherein the source of electromagnetic radiation is a layer of fluorescent material embedded within the body of the contact pad.
16. The robotic system of claim 15 , wherein the sensor is a photodiode.
17. The robotic system of claim 14 wherein the source of electromagnetic radiation is a layer of material that has a visible color different than a visible color of the rest of the body of the contact pad.
18. The robotic system of claim 17 , wherein the sensor is a camera.
19. The contact pad of claim 14 wherein the source of electromagnetic radiation is an embedded radio-frequency identification tag.
20. The robotic system of claim 19 , wherein the sensor is a radio-frequency identification reader.