Abstract:
As robot applications expand from controllable factory settings to unknown environments, the robots will need a larger breadth of sensors to perceive these complex environments. In this thesis, I focus on developing whisker sensors for robot perception. The inspiration for whisker sensors comes from the biological world, where whiskers serve as tactile and flow sensors. As tactile sensors, these engineered/ biological sensors can uniquely ignore damage during physical contact because they are highly compliant hairs with electronics/ nerves only at their base. As such, whisker architecture minimizes damage to the robot/ mammal and environment during contact. Whisker-inspired sensors are also valuable as flow sensors as they can detect both the magnitude and direction of flow. Damage-free contact sensing and flow sensing are just some of the benefits of whiskers; they also function in low-light and cluttered environments because they don’t rely on vision. These benefits make whisker sensors valuable additions to the sensor stack for robotic platforms. However, to add the most value, whisker sensors must be designed for environments less structured than those considered in prior whisker designs. In this thesis, I present novel sensors, algorithms, and insights into adapting whisker sensors to keep the previously published functionality while eliminating assumptions likely to fail in an unstructured environment.

Thesis Committee Members:
Sarah Bergbreiter, Chair
Zeynep Temel
Victoria Webster Wood
Mitra Hartman, Northwestern University

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