This page is currently under development, please check back in the future for updates

Welcome to the home of SynTouch's new ROS stack. SynTouch is currently developing this stack and associated packages (st_biotac and st_cheetah) to use the BioTac and hardware in ROS.

For more information on the BioTac sensor visit: SynTouch Website

Package Summary (temp)

This stack contains data publishers, message structures and other useful tools for custom applications using SynTouch’s BioTac sensor in ROS.

• Authors: Abhishek Pawar, Gary Lin, and Jeremy Fishel, contact: ros@syntouchllc.com

• Maintained by: Abhishek Pawar / abhishek.pawar@syntouchllc.com

• License: GPL

• External Website: http://www.syntouchllc.com

• Source: (software currently under development)

Overview

The BioTac

The BioTac is SynTouch's multimodal tactile sensor that is used in robotic applications requiring robust and sensitive multimodal tactile sensors.

Each BioTac sensor is configured to sample the following channels: voltages over the 19 electrodes (E1-E19), dynamic and static pressure (Pac and Pdc), dynamic and static temperature (Tac and Tdc), and the hall sensor (Hall) (See the BioTac wiki page for additional details on the sensory modalities and channels).

The internal electronics of the BioTac are configured to sample and digitize sensory channels at 12 bits and communicate with a host device digitally using SPI communication protocol; data are sampled upon receiving a command from the SPI master that specifies which channel to sample. The SPI master can be configured to sample multiple BioTacs simultaneously and is responsible for controlling the timing and sampling sequence. SynTouch currently supports the Cheetah SPI Host Adapter (Total Phase) as the standard for communicating with the BioTacs in most applications. Shadow Robot Company has also integrated the ability to sample the BioTacs into their Dexterous Hand.

Stack Overview

This stack contains packages for acquiring BioTac data from supported hardware, signal processing of raw BioTac data, and other useful tools for working with the BioTacs in ROS. All data acquisition packages supported by SynTouch have been designed to publish to the same message format so that subscribing nodes can make use of this information independent of the hardware used (in the instance of using multiple hardware ports, such as a two-handed robot, each port publishes data to its own topic).

The general concept for data flow is presented below:

INSERT THE ROS IMAGE OF THE STACK DATA FLOW

Documentation

General Packages

• st_biotac: this package contains messages used in the BioTac Stack and other useful tools for configuring and using the BioTacs.

Data Acquisition Hardware Packages

• st_cheetah: this package contains the ROS publisher for the BioTac data acquired by the Cheetah SPI Host Adapter.

Planned Development

• Shadow Hand: this package is currently planned for development and will allow for publishing of BioTac data from the Shadow Hand to the standardized message format.

Signal Processing Packages

Planned Development

• Contact Detection

• Tri-Axial Force Calculation

• Point of Contact Calculation

• Texture Properties

• Compliance Properties

• Thermal Properties

Installation Instructions

 UPDATE WHEN COMPLETE

Contributing

If you are interested in contributing to the development of this stack or would like to add or help us add new function to a package please contact us at ros@syntouchllc.com

Support

If you encounter a problem or need support please contact us at ros@syntouchllc.com

Report a bug

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