PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Compared to vision, active tactile sensing enables animals and robots to perform unambiguous object localization, segmentationand shape recognition. Recently, we proposed a bio-inspired, CPG-based, active antennal control model, so-called Contour-net, which captures essential characteristics of antennal behavior in climbing stick insects. In simulation, this model provides a robust and eective way to trace contours and classify various 3D shapes. Here, we propose a physical robotic implementation of Contour-net using vibration-based active antennae. We show that combining tactile contour tracing with vibration-based distance estimation yields fairly accurate localization of contact events in 3D space.