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Optical Microfiber Neuron for Finger Motion Perception

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Abstract

To achieve dexterous motion controlling of robot, the sensors that function like human neurons for motion perception are essential. In this work, a silica microfiber probe-based optical neuron (MPON) for robot finger motion detection is proposed. The silica microfiber probe was fabricated by snapping a biconical silica optical microfiber that drawn from the standard optical fibre. Then it was embedded into thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to detect and recognize motions of robotic finger. Specifically, a PDMS-Teflon-Microfiber-Teflon-PDMS composite structure was prepared to protect the waveguide structure of silica microfiber probe and avoid the environmental pollution. With the help of this composite structure, the proposed MPON achieved the accurate measurement of bending angle with large range and fast response. The repeatability and stability of MPON were also investigated. Additionally, different finger motions were successfully distinguished through observing the output power variation of MPON. The proposed MPON could serve as the perceptron of robot hand, which could be applied in dexterous gesture control even human machine interaction.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant Number: 61922033 and 61775072) and the Innovation Fund of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Optical and Electronic Information, National Engineering Laboratory for Next Generation Internet Access System, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Yanpeng Li, Shijie Tan, Liuyang Yang, Liangye Li, Fang Fang & Qizhen Sun

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  1. Yanpeng Li
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  2. Shijie Tan
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  3. Liuyang Yang
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  4. Liangye Li
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  5. Fang Fang
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Correspondence to Qizhen Sun.

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Li, Y., Tan, S., Yang, L. et al. Optical Microfiber Neuron for Finger Motion Perception. Adv. Fiber Mater. 4, 226–234 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-021-00096-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-021-00096-6

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