	US 12,186,892 B2
	Gripper jaw with tactile sensor and gripping device with one or more such gripper jaws
Michael Wolfgang Strohmayr, Augsburg (DE); Holger Urbanek, Munich (DE); and Alaa Abdellah, Munich (DE)
Assigned to Tacterion GmbH, Munich (DE)
Appl. No. 17/774,942
Filed by Tacterion GmbH, Munich (DE)
PCT Filed Nov. 24, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/083158 § 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 6, 2022, PCT Pub. No. WO2021/105096, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 3, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2019 131 792.4 (DE), filed on Nov. 25, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0402144 A1, Dec. 22, 2022
Int. Cl. B25J 13/08 (2006.01); G01L 1/14 (2006.01); G01L 5/165 (2020.01)

CPC B25J 13/082 (2013.01) [B25J 13/084 (2013.01); G01L 1/146 (2013.01); G01L 5/165 (2013.01)]

15 Claims

1. A gripper jaw to grip an object, the gripper jaw having a gripping surface with a recess therein, the gripper jaw comprising:

a tactile sensor comprising a sensor surface and a sensor thickness D_z, the tactile sensor replaceably integrated in the recess in a z-direction, wherein the z-direction in an integrated state of the tactile sensor is perpendicular to the sensor surface and perpendicular to the gripping surface, and wherein the sensor surface and the gripping surface are arranged in parallel, wherein the tactile sensor comprises:

i. a sensor base located lowermost in the recess,

ii. a sensor array arranged on the sensor base with a plurality of taxels T_n,m, the taxels T_n,mbeing tactilely sensitive sensor elements that are arranged over an area of the sensor base, with n=1, 2, . . . , N, m=1, 2, . . . , M, N>1 and M>1, wherein the taxels T_n,mare configured to detect externally applied forces F_extalong the z-direction in an interval: [zmin_n,m, zmax_n,m], wherein each taxel of the taxels T_n,mis elastically reversibly deformable with:

zmax_n,m: maximum extension of the taxel in the z-direction with no deformation, F_ext=0,

zmin_n,m: minimum extension of the taxel in the z-direction at maximum reversible deformation, F_ext>0, and

iii. an elastic layer ES arranged directly above the sensor array and overlapping the sensor array, the elastic layer ES acting as a mechanical low-pass filter, wherein the elastic layer ES, in an unloaded state, has a layer thickness D_ES,unloaded, wherein an outwardly facing surface of the elastic layer ES forms at least a partial area of the sensor surface, and

wherein the tactile sensor integrated in the recess projects with the sensor surface beyond the gripping surface in the z-direction by a height H in a range of at least D_ES,unbelto a maximum (zmax_n,m−zmin_n,m): H € [D_ES,unbel, (zmax_n,m−zmin_n,m)], and wherein the tactile sensor integrated in the recess is arranged and dimensioned on the gripper jaw in such a way that, when gripping and/or holding the object and H=0, the gripper jaw simultaneously contacts the object with at least a partial area of the gripping surface and the partial area of the sensor surface.