A Sorting System Using Optical Sensor Array in Robot Fingertips

A low-cost Optical Sensory sorting system is described in this paper.The sensoris mounted directly on the robot gripper fingers.It uses a light source and a bundleof optical fibers on opposing robot fingers.The optical fibers carry the shadow of agripped object,as an eight-by-eight pixel array,to detection,multiplexing,discri-mination,and computer interface electronics mounted on the robot base.The systemuses a microcomputer for several data processing and pattern recognition functions.Discussion in this paper includes the design and analysis of the sensor and its opti-mal array,the hardware,and the parts recognition and control system.System per-formance in a task which requires acquisition,identification,and bin-sorting of avariety of electronic and mechanical parts is also covered.