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Sangbae Kim. Chuah, Meng Yee (Meng Yee Michael) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering 2013-03-28T18:17:11Z 2013-03-28T18:17:11Z 2012 2012 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78211 829793887 Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-67). In this thesis, I will describe the fabrication and characterization of a footpad based on an original principle of volumetric displacement sensing. It is intended for use in detecting ground contact forces in a running quadrupedal robot. The footpad is man- ufactured as a monolithic, composite structure composed of multi-graded polymers which are reinforced by glass fiber to increase durability and traction. The volumetric displacement sensing principle utilizes a hyperelastic gel-like pad with embedded magnets that are tracked with Hall-effect sensors. Normal and shear forces can be detected as contact with the ground which causes the gel-like pad to deform into rigid wells. This is all done without the need to expose the sensor. A one-time training process using an artificial neural network was used to relate the normal and shear forces with the volumetric displacement sensor output. The sensor was shown to pre- dict normal forces in the Z-axis up to 80N with a root mean squared error of 6.04% as well as the onset of shear in the X and Y-axis. This demonstrates a proof-of-concept for a more robust footpad sensor suitable for use in all outdoor conditions. by Meng Yee (Michael) Chuah. S.M. 67 p. eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 Mechanical Engineering. Composite force sensing foot utilizing volumetric displacement of a hyperelastic polymer Thesis application/pdf false Publication unknown unknown <Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="21ac1849-fdd8-4385-98c9-c123b22cee05"> <Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type> <Language>eng</Language> <Title>Composite force sensing foot utilizing volumetric displacement of a hyperelastic polymer</Title> <PublishedIn> <Publication> </Publication> </PublishedIn> <PublicationDate>2012</PublicationDate> <Authors> <Author> <DisplayName>Chuah, Meng Yee (Meng Yee Michael)</DisplayName> <Affiliation> <OrgUnit> </OrgUnit> </Affiliation> </Author> </Authors> <Editors> </Editors> <Publishers> <Publisher> <DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName> <OrgUnit /> </Publisher> </Publishers> <License>http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582</License> <Keyword>Mechanical Engineering.</Keyword> <Abstract>In this thesis, I will describe the fabrication and characterization of a footpad based on an original principle of volumetric displacement sensing. It is intended for use in detecting ground contact forces in a running quadrupedal robot. The footpad is man- ufactured as a monolithic, composite structure composed of multi-graded polymers which are reinforced by glass fiber to increase durability and traction. The volumetric displacement sensing principle utilizes a hyperelastic gel-like pad with embedded magnets that are tracked with Hall-effect sensors. Normal and shear forces can be detected as contact with the ground which causes the gel-like pad to deform into rigid wells. This is all done without the need to expose the sensor. A one-time training process using an artificial neural network was used to relate the normal and shear forces with the volumetric displacement sensor output. The sensor was shown to pre- dict normal forces in the Z-axis up to 80N with a root mean squared error of 6.04% as well as the onset of shear in the X and Y-axis. This demonstrates a proof-of-concept for a more robust footpad sensor suitable for use in all outdoor conditions.</Abstract> <Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right" > </Access> </Publication>