edited by Howard R Nicholls (University College of Wales, Aberystwyth)

Advanced robot systems require sensory information to enable them to make decisions and to carry out actions in a versatile, autonomous way. Humans make considerable use of information derived through touch, and an emerging domain of robot sensing is tactile sensing. This book considers various aspects of tactile sensing, from sensor hardware design through to the use of tactile data in exploratory situations using a multi-fingered robot hand. Both introductory material and new research results are presented, providing detailed coverage of the subject. Applications from assembly automation to dextrous manipulation are examined, and a particular theme is the relevance of biological touch to robotic tactile sensing. The integration of these topics into a single volume make the book essential reading for all those interested in robotic sensing.

• Introduction to Tactile Sensing
• Tactile Sensor Designs
• Processing and Using Tactile Sensor Data (H R Nicholls)
• Planar Elasticity for Tactile Sensing (R S Fearing)
• Integrating Tactile Sensors — ESPRIT 278 (Z G Rzepczynski)
• Distributed Touch Sensing (H R Nicholls & N W Hardy)
• The Human Tactile System (L Moss-Salentijn)
• Lessons from the Study of Biological Touch for Robotic Tactile Sensing (S J Lederman & D T Pawluck)
• Lessons from the Study of Biological Touch for Robotic Haptic Sensing (S J Lederman et al.)
• Object Recognition Using Active Tactile Sensing (P K Allen)
• Experiments in Active Haptic Perception with the Utah-MIT Dextrous Hand (P K Allen et al.)
• Future Trends in Tactile Sensing (H R Nicholls)
• Appendix — Basic Linear Elasticity (R S Fearing)