Background:

Back in 1986-87, when I was attending Sir Sandford Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario, I worked on two projects dealing with a Tactile Sensor.

The first project was a driver program for the sensor which communicates with the sensor and generates a 3D image of the impression on the sensor pad. This project was demonstrated to the Ontario Robotics Center staff.

The Second project was a Robot Work Cell that uses the Tactile Sensor to determine the edge of a circuit board so that it can be accurately placed for IC insertion. This project won 1st prize at the 2nd Annual Society of Manufacturing Engineers Student Robotics Conference in Toronto, Ontario.

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Lord Tacitle Sensor Driver

This program retrieves information from the tactile sensor array and converts the data to a three dimensional view of the impression on the sensor pad.






Links:
   »Report (.pdf)
   »Software (.zip)
   »Software Demo Video (.avi)

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Tactile Sensing In PC Board Assembly

Abstract

With the advent of flexible manufacturing in printed circuit board assembly a requirement to locate PC boards accurately for chip insertion has developed. One method for this type of locating is the use of tactile sensing. This paper deals with the practical use of the Lord Corporation's tactile array for circuit board location with a Seiko RT 3000 robot. The robot and tactile array are being controlled completely from an IBM PC acting as a host processor, thus providing offline programming capability for the complete cell. The cost effectiveness of this system over machine vision systems is quite substantial due to the difference in systems costs and avoiding illumination problems associated with machine vision. Further cost savings are gained by the use of the Seiko RT 3000 to perform chip insertion operations thus eliminating the need for a separate chip insertion device.



Links:
   »Report (.pdf)
   »Design Engineering Article About the Project (.pdf)
   »Work Cell Demo (.avi)
   »Local News Story (.avi)