Super-resolution tactile sensor arrays with sparse units enabled by deep learning

High-resolution tactile perception is essential for humanoid robots to perform contact-based interaction tasks. However, enhancing resolution is typically accompanied by increasing the density of sensing nodes, large numbers of interconnecting wires, and complex signal processing modules. This work presents super-resolution (SR) tactile sensor arrays with sparsely distributed taxels powered by a universal intelligent framework. Such smart sensor systems involve a general topological optimization strategy for taxel layout design and a deep learning model called self-attention-assisted tactile SR. Driven by the proposed model, they can dynamically distinguish high-density pressure stimuli by generating 2700…