WO2018016193A1

WO2018016193A1 - Touch sensor and touch sensor system

Info

Publication number: WO2018016193A1
Application number: PCT/JP2017/020079
Authority: WO
Inventors: 里奈林; 俊樹磯貝
Original assignee: 株式会社Ｓｏｋｅｎ; 株式会社デンソー
Priority date: 2016-07-21
Filing date: 2017-05-30
Publication date: 2018-01-25

Abstract

A touch sensor 12 that senses a touch on a soft object filled with a filler 4, is provided with: a different-material-filled part 5 which is arranged in the filler 4; a different-material filler 6 with which the different-material-filled part 5 is filled and which is formed from a material different from that of the filler 4, the different-material filler 6 being configured to be compressed by application of a load onto the soft object and to recover by removal of the load; at least one signal transmission unit which is provided so as to be in contact with a predetermined surface part 5a of the different-material-filled part 5 and which transmits a signal toward the different-material filler 6; at least one signal reception unit which is provided so as to be in contact with the predetermined surface part 5a of the different-material-filled part 5 and which receives the signal having been transmitted from the signal transmission unit and having propagated through the different-material filler 6; and a touch sensing unit which senses touch on the soft object by using the change in a signal reception status in the signal reception unit.

Description

Contact sensor and contact sensor system

Cross-reference of related applications

This application is based on Japanese Application No. 2016-143326 filed on July 21, 2016 and Japanese Application No. 2017-006727 filed on January 18, 2017, the description of which is here Incorporate content.

The present disclosure relates to a contact sensor and a contact sensor system.

For example, there are provided contact sensors that detect contact with soft objects such as protective members, stuffed animals, and cushions that are attached to the arm of a coexisting robot. For example, Patent Document 1 has a configuration in which a density change of a filling material is detected by being placed in a filling material filled in a soft object, a load is applied to the soft object, and contact with the soft object is detected. It is disclosed.

JP 2013-036794 A

Patent Document 1 is based on the premise that the packing is a material whose density can change, and there are restrictions on the packing that can be applied. In addition, the material that can change the density is likely to be loosened, and the change in density becomes unstable or difficult to change due to aging. As a result, even if the density of the filler changes, it becomes difficult to determine whether the load has been applied to the soft object and the density has changed, or the density has changed due to aging, and detection of contact with the soft object becomes unstable. There is also a risk of becoming.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a contact sensor and a contact sensor system capable of stably detecting contact with a soft object without limiting the applicable filler.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, in the contact sensor that detects contact with a soft object that is filled with a filler, the foreign material filler is disposed in the filler. The different material filling is filled in the different material filling part, is made of a material different from the filling, is compressed when the load is applied to the soft object, and is restored when the load is released. ing. At least one signal transmitting unit is provided in contact with a predetermined surface portion of the different material filling unit, and transmits a signal toward the different material filling. The at least one signal receiving unit is provided in contact with a predetermined surface portion of the different material filling unit, and receives a signal transmitted from the signal transmission unit and propagated through the different material filling. A contact detection part detects the contact to a soft object using the change of the reception state of the signal in a signal receiving part.

A different material filling part is arranged in the filling, and the different material filling part is filled with the different material filling, and the soft object is used by changing the reception state of the signal propagating through the different material filling. Detecting contact with Unlike the conventional configuration in which the density change of the filling material is detected to detect contact with the soft object, it is not necessary to detect the density change of the filling material. Can be detected stably. Moreover, since the different material filling part is provided in the filling, it can be applied to a ready-made product in which the material of the filling has been decided.

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing
FIG. 1 is a plan view and a side view of a contact sensor showing a first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a mode in which the contact sensor is provided on the arm protection member; FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an aspect in which a person's arm is in contact with the protective member; FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the contact sensor, FIG. 5 is a flowchart. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating types of signals, signal transmission units, and signal reception units, FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an aspect in which the contact sensor is provided on the stuffed animal. FIG. 8 is a front view showing a mode in which the contact sensor is provided on the handle, FIG. 9 is a side view of the contact sensor, FIG. 10 is a side view of the contact sensor showing the second embodiment, FIG. 11 is a side view of a contact sensor showing a third embodiment. FIG. 12 is a side view of a contact sensor showing a fourth embodiment, FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of the contact sensor system, FIG. 14 is a side view of a contact sensor showing a fifth embodiment, FIG. 15 is a side view of a contact sensor showing a sixth embodiment, FIG. 16 is a flowchart, FIG. 17 is a plan view of the contact sensor, FIG. 18 is a side view of the contact sensor, FIG. 19 is a plan view of the contact sensor, FIG. 20 is a side view of the contact sensor, FIG. 21 is a plan view of a contact sensor, FIG. 22 is a side view of the contact sensor, FIG. 23 is a plan view of the contact sensor, FIG. 24 is a side view of the contact sensor, FIG. 25 is a side view of a contact sensor showing a seventh embodiment, FIG. 26 is a side view of a contact sensor showing an eighth embodiment. FIG. 27 is a flowchart, FIG. 28 is a side view of a contact sensor showing a ninth embodiment, FIG. 29 is a flowchart.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment in which a protection member attached to an arm of a human coexistence robot is formed of a soft object and applied to a contact sensor that detects contact with the arm by detecting contact with the protection member will be described. A description will be given with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 2, a protective member 3 (corresponding to a soft object) is attached to a predetermined portion of the arm 2 of the human coexistence robot 1. The protective member 3 is filled with a filler 4. The filling 4 is made of a relatively soft material such as sponge. In such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 3, the human arm 201 does not directly contact the arm 2, but the human arm 201 contacts the protection member 3. Even if it is made of a hard material, the impact of the contact is reduced. The arm 2 itself may be made of a soft material.

A rectangular parallelepiped different material filling portion 5 is formed at a predetermined portion of the filling 4, and the different material filling portion 5 is filled with a different material filling 6. The foreign material filling part 5 is hollow, and the foreign material filler 6 is air. The transmitting unit 7 and the receiving unit 8 are provided on the lower surface portion 5a (corresponding to a predetermined surface portion) that is the farthest from the upper surface portion 3a in which the human arm 201 may come into contact with the protective member 3 in the different material filling portion 5. Are arranged side by side. That is, the transmission unit 7 and the reception unit 8 are arranged side by side in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which a load is applied while being in contact with the lower surface portion 5 a of the different material filling portion 5.

As shown in FIG. 4, the transmission unit 7 includes a signal transmission unit 9 that transmits a signal toward the different material filling 6. The receiving unit 8 includes a signal receiving unit 10 that receives a signal transmitted from the signal transmitting unit 9 and propagated through the foreign material filling 6, and a contact detection unit 11 that detects contact with the arm 2. The signal transmission part 9 is LED which irradiates infrared rays. The signal receiving unit 10 is an infrared phototransistor, and the infrared light irradiated from the signal transmitting unit 9 propagates through the different material filling 6 and is reflected by the upper surface portion 5b and the side surface portion 5c, so that the reflected infrared light is incident. Then, the received amount of incident infrared light is output to the contact detection unit 11. The contact detection unit 11 includes, for example, a CPU. When the amount of received infrared light is input from the signal receiving unit 10, the contact detection unit 11 determines a change in the amount of received light and detects contact with the arm 2. The contact sensor 12 includes the different material filler 5, the different material filler 6, the signal transmitter 9, the signal receiver 10, and the contact detector 11.

The contact detection unit 11 detects contact with the arm 2 in the following procedure. When the human arm 201 comes into contact with the protective member 3 and a load is applied, the load acts on the different material filling portion 5 via the filler 4 and the direction in which the load is applied in the different material filling portion 5 (that is, (Vertical direction) shrinks, and the distance from the lower surface 5a to the upper surface 5b decreases. That is, the different material filling portion 5 is compressed in the vertical direction. At this time, if the amount of infrared light emitted from the signal transmission unit 9 is constant before and after the load is applied, the propagation path of the light emitted from the signal transmission unit 9 changes, so that it enters the signal reception unit 10. The amount of received infrared light changes. The contact detection unit 11 stores the amount of received infrared light when no load is applied as a reference value, and compares the amount of received infrared light with the reference value to determine the difference between the amount of received infrared light and the reference value. It is determined whether or not the threshold value is exceeded, and contact with the arm 2 is detected.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. The contact detection unit 11 performs a contact detection process. When the contact detection unit 11 starts the contact detection process, it receives the amount of received infrared light from the signal receiving unit 10 (S1), calculates the difference between the received amount of received infrared light and a reference value (S2), and It is determined whether or not the calculated difference is greater than or equal to a threshold value (S3). If the contact detection unit 11 determines that the calculated difference is not greater than or equal to the threshold (S3: NO), it determines that no load is applied, that is, the human arm 201 is not in contact with the protection member 3, and step S1. Returning to step S1, the steps after step S1 are repeated.

Here, when the human arm 201 comes into contact with the protective member 3 and a load is applied, the different material filling portion 5 is compressed in the vertical direction, and the difference between the amount of received infrared light and the reference value is equal to or greater than the threshold value. When the contact detection unit 11 determines that the calculated difference is equal to or greater than the threshold (S3: YES), the contact detection unit 11 determines that a load is applied, that is, the person's arm 201 is in contact with the protection member 3, and the person's arm 201 is detected. The treatment for the contact is performed (S4). The contact detection unit 11 outputs a stop signal to, for example, a drive unit (not shown) that controls the drive of the human coexistence robot 1 to stop the drive of the human coexistence robot 1 or notify the HMI unit (not shown). A signal is output to notify that the human arm 201 is in contact.

The contact detection unit 11 determines whether or not there is a change in the reference value.
Here, when the human arm 201 is detached from the protective member 3 and the applied load is released, the compressed different material filling portion 5 is restored in the vertical direction, and the amount of received infrared light and the reference value are The difference is less than the threshold value. When the contact detection unit 11 determines that the calculated difference is less than the threshold (S5: YES), the contact detection unit 11 determines whether or not the reference value has changed, and determines whether or not the reference value needs to be updated. (S6). That is, for example, the contact detection unit 11 calculates the allowable range from the reference value used in the past determination, and if the reference value used in the current determination is within the allowable range, the reference value has not changed or has changed. Even if it is, it is determined that it is an error level, it is determined that there is no need to update the reference value (S6: NO), the process returns to step S1, and step S1 and subsequent steps are repeated.

On the other hand, if the reference value used in this determination is outside the allowable range, the contact detection unit 11 determines that the reference value has changed beyond the error level, and determines that the reference value needs to be updated. (S6: YES), the reference value is updated (S7). That is, the contact detection unit 11 adds the amount of infrared light received this time when the given load is released to the amount of infrared light received for the past several times when no load is applied, and the total is calculated. Dividing by a predetermined number of times (past several times + 1), an average value of the current amount of received infrared light and the amount of received light of the past several times is calculated, and the calculated average value is updated as a reference value. The contact detection unit 11 updates the reference value in this way, so that the packing 4 surrounding the different material filling unit 5 deteriorates over time, and the restoring force of the different material filling unit 5 (that is, the different material packing 6 Even if the restoring force) is reduced, it is possible to determine whether or not the human arm 201 is in contact with the protective member 3 without being affected by the reduction in the restoring force.

The contact detection unit 11 determines whether or not the termination condition for the contact detection process is satisfied (S8). If the contact detection unit 11 determines that the termination condition for the contact detection process is not satisfied (S8: NO), the process returns to step S1. Step S1 and subsequent steps are repeated. If the contact detection part 11 determines with the completion | finish conditions of a contact detection process having been satisfied (S8: YES), it will complete | finish a contact detection process.

In the above description, the infrared signal is used as the signal and the infrared phototransistor is used as the signal receiving unit 10. However, as shown in FIG. 6, an infrared sensor or an infrared camera may be used as the signal receiving unit 10. . Alternatively, visible light may be used as a signal, an LED that emits visible light may be used as the signal transmission unit 9, and a visible light phototransistor or a visible light camera that may receive visible light may be used as the signal reception unit 10. Further, millimeter waves may be used as signals, and millimeter wave radars may be used as the signal transmission unit 9 and the signal reception unit 10. Further, ultrasonic waves may be used as signals, and piezoelectric ceramics may be used as the signal transmission unit 9 and the signal reception unit 10. Moreover, you may use the photo reflector with which the signal transmission part 9 and the signal receiving part 10 were comprised integrally.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
A different material filling portion 5 is provided in the filling 4 and the contact with the arm 2 is detected using a change in the amount of received infrared light propagating through the different material filling 6 filled in the different material filling portion 5. I tried to do it. Thereby, since it is not necessary to detect the density change of the filler 4, the applicable filler 4 is not limited, and the contact with the arm 2 can be stably detected. Moreover, since it implement | achieves by providing the different raw material filling part 5 in the filler 4, it can apply also to the ready-made product for which the raw material of the filler 4 has been decided.

In addition, it was determined whether or not the difference between the amount of received infrared light and the reference value is greater than or equal to a threshold value, the contact with the arm 2 was detected, and the reference value was updated. Thereby, even if the filling 4 surrounding the different material filling portion 5 deteriorates with time and the restoring force of the different material filling portion 5 is reduced, the contact with the arm 2 is not affected by the reduction of the restoring force. Can be detected.

The above is an example of the configuration applied to the contact sensor 12 that detects contact with the arm 2 of the human coexistence robot 1, but other soft objects may be targeted. As shown in FIG. 7, in the configuration applied to the stuffed toy 21, the stuffed toy 21 is filled with a filling 22, and a rectangular parallelepiped different material filling portion 23 is formed at a predetermined portion of the filling 22, The different material filling portion 23 is filled with a different material filling 24. The different material filling portion 23 is also hollow, and the different material filling 24 is also air. A transmitting unit 25 and a receiving unit 26 are arranged side by side at a predetermined portion of the different material filling 24. The transmission unit 25 is provided with a signal transmission unit 27, and the reception unit 26 is provided with a signal reception unit 28 and a contact detection unit 29. The contact sensor 30 includes the different material filling unit 23, the different material filling 24, the signal transmission unit 27, the signal reception unit 28, and the contact detection unit 29. For example, when a person strokes the stuffed toy 21 with a hand 202 and a load is applied, the propagation path of light in the different material filling portion 23 changes, so that it is possible to detect that the person has stroked the stuffed toy 21 with the hand 202. . In the configuration applied to the stuffed toy 21, it is possible to detect the contact with the stuffed toy 21 without impairing the softness, healing, friendliness, etc. of the stuffed toy 21 and to provide interaction.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, in the configuration applied to the handle 31 of the automobile, the handle 31 is filled with a filling 32, and a rectangular parallelepiped different material filling portion 33 is formed at a predetermined portion of the filling 32. The different material filling portion 33 is filled with a different material filling 34. The different material filling portion 33 is also hollow, and the different material filling 34 is also air. A transmitting unit 35 and a receiving unit 36 are arranged side by side at a predetermined portion of the different material filling 34. The transmission unit 35 is provided with a signal transmission unit 37, and the reception unit 36 is provided with a signal reception unit 38 and a contact detection unit 39. The contact sensor 40 includes the different material filling unit 33, the different material filling 34, a signal transmission unit 37, a signal reception unit 38, and a contact detection unit 39. When a person (that is, a driver) grasps the handle 31 with the hand 203 and a load is applied, the light propagation path in the different material filling portion 33 changes to detect that the person has grasped the handle 31 with the hand 203. be able to. In the configuration applied to the handle 31 as described above, contact with the handle 31 can be detected without impairing the handle of the handle 31, the design of the handle 31, and the like.

Moreover, there is no restriction | limiting in the raw material of the filler 4 with which the protection member 3 is filled, The several filler of the mutually different raw material may be filled in the layer form. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, the protective member 3 is filled with the fillers 41 to 45, and the uppermost filler 41 with which the human arm 201 may come into contact is made of the softest material, It may be composed of a hard material stepwise from the bottom to the bottom.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Description of the same parts as those of the first embodiment described above will be omitted, and different parts will be described. In the first embodiment, the different material filling 6 is air, that is, a substance having no substance is disposed as the different material filling 6, but the second embodiment is different in material filling. The substance having the substance is arranged.

A rectangular parallelepiped different material filling portion 51 is formed at a predetermined portion of the filling 4, and the different material filling portion 51 is filled with a different material filling 52. The foreign material filling 52 is made of a material having a property of compressing when a load is applied and restoring when the applied load is released. In this case, a signal having a property of propagating through the different material filling 52 is employed. According to the second embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. Moreover, compared with the structure which employ | adopts the different material filler 6 which does not have an entity as a different material filler, intensity | strength can be raised by employ | adopting the different material filler 52 which has an entity.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Description of the same parts as those of the first embodiment described above will be omitted, and different parts will be described. In the first embodiment, a rectangular parallelepiped foreign material filling portion 5 is formed at a predetermined portion of the filler 4, but in the third embodiment, a hemispherical foreign material filling portion is formed. It is the composition which is.

A hemispherical different material filling portion 61 is formed at a predetermined portion of the filling 4, and the different material filling portion 61 is filled with a different material filling 62. The transmitting unit 7 and the receiving unit 8 are provided on the lower surface portion 61a (corresponding to the predetermined surface portion) which is the farthest from the upper surface portion 3a where the human arm 201 may come into contact with the protective member 3 in the different material filling portion 61. Are arranged side by side. In the configuration in which the different material filling portion 61 is formed in a hemispherical shape, the compression with respect to the load is equal from any direction, and contact with the soft object can be stably detected in a wide range. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 7, if the stuffed toy 21 has a shape close to a sphere, a range in which it is possible to detect that a person has stroked with the hand 202 is widened. According to the third embodiment, in addition to obtaining the same operational effects as those of the first embodiment, it is possible to stably detect contact with a soft object over a wide curved surface.

(Fourth embodiment)
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Description of the same parts as those of the first embodiment described above will be omitted, and different parts will be described. The first embodiment is a configuration in which one contact sensor 12 is arranged in one filling 4, but the fourth embodiment is a configuration in which a plurality of contact sensors are arranged in one filling. It is.

The contact sensor system 71 includes a plurality of contact sensors 73 arranged at equal intervals in the filling 72 and a server 82 arranged outside the soft object. Each of the contact sensors 73 has the same configuration as that of the contact sensor 12 described in the first embodiment. The different material filling portion 74 is filled with the different material filling material 75, and a lower surface portion 74 a (predetermined) of the different material filling portion 74. The transmission unit 76 and the reception unit 77 are arranged side by side on the surface). The transmission unit 76 has a signal transmission unit 78. In addition to the signal receiving unit 79 and the contact detection unit 80, the reception unit 8 includes a communication unit 81 that transmits a detection result to the outside. The contact sensor 73 transmits a detection result to the server 82 by a method such as a wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) (registered trademark), WiFi (registered trademark), or the like defined by IEEE 802.11, for example. To do.

The server 82 includes a communication unit 83 that receives the detection results transmitted from the plurality of contact sensors 73 and a processing unit 84 that processes the plurality of detection results. The processing unit 84 stores the arrangement positions of the plurality of contact sensors 73, and calculates the action point and amount of the load on the soft object using the stored arrangement positions and detection results. That is, when a load is applied to any part, the processing unit 84 identifies the contact sensor 73 whose received light amount has changed from among the plurality of contact sensors 73, and distributes the change amount in proportion to the contact sensor 73. Calculate the point and amount of load applied. According to the fourth embodiment, in addition to being able to obtain the same operational effects as those of the first embodiment, it is possible to stably detect contact with a soft object over a wide planar area. For example, even if the arm of the human-symbiotic robot has a long shape, contact with the arm can be detected stably over a wide range.

(Fifth embodiment)
Next, a fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Description of the same parts as those of the second embodiment described above will be omitted, and different parts will be described. In the second embodiment, one transmission unit 7 and one reception unit 8 are arranged in one different material filling unit 51, but the fifth embodiment is one different material filling unit 51. In this configuration, a plurality of transmitting units and a plurality of receiving units are arranged.

A rectangular parallelepiped different material filling portion 91 is formed in a predetermined portion of the filling 4, and the different material filling portion 91 is filled with a different material filling 92. The foreign material filling 92 is made of a material that has a property of compressing when a load is applied and restoring when the applied load is released. Three transmitting units 93a to 93c and three receiving units 94a to 94c are arranged side by side on a lower surface portion 91a (corresponding to a predetermined surface portion) of the different material filling portion 91.

According to the fifth embodiment, in addition to being able to obtain the same operational effects as those of the first embodiment, by arranging three transmitting units 93a to 93c and three receiving units 94a to 94c, respectively, A large amount of propagation can be ensured, and the contact with the soft object can be stably detected over a wide area in the same manner as in the fourth embodiment.

(Sixth embodiment)
Next, a sixth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Description of the same parts as those of the fifth embodiment described above will be omitted, and different parts will be described. In the fifth embodiment, the different material filling part 91 is filled with one different material filling 92, but in the sixth embodiment, the different material filling part is filled with a plurality of different material fillings. It is the structure which is done.

The different material filling portion 91 is filled with a first foreign material filler 101 and a second foreign material filler 102. The

different material fillings

101 and 102 are each made of a material having a property of compressing when a load is applied and restoring when the applied load is released. Transmitting units 93a to 93c and receiving units 94a to 94c are arranged side by side on the lower surface 91a of the different material filling portion 91. The transmitting unit 93a is disposed in contact with only the first foreign material filler 101, and the receiving unit 94a is disposed in contact with the first foreign material filler 101 and the second foreign material filler 102. 93b, 93c and the receiving

units

94b, 94c are arranged in contact with only the second foreign material filler 102.

In the fifth embodiment described above, when a load is applied, the fact that the load is applied can be detected in a wide range, but the position where the load is applied cannot be specified accurately. That is, in the configuration in which the different material filling portion 91 is filled with one type of different material filling 92 and the plurality of transmission units 93a to 93c and the plurality of reception units 94a to 94c are arranged, when a load is applied, The amount of received light of the signals transmitted from the plurality of transmission units 93a to 93c and propagated through the different material filling 92 changes, but no difference occurs in the change in the amount of received light. For example, in the receiving unit 94a, the received light amount of both the signal transmitted from the transmitting unit 93a and propagated through the different material filling 92 and the signal transmitted from the transmitting unit 93b and propagated through the different material filling 92 are changed. No difference occurs in the change in the amount of received light. Therefore, in the above-described configuration, the position where the load is applied cannot be accurately specified, and the resolution indicating the position where the load is applied cannot be increased.

On the other hand, in the configuration in which the different material filling portions 91 are filled with two

different material fillings

101 and 102 having different signal propagation speeds, when a load is applied, for example, the receiving unit 94a starts from the transmitting unit 93a. The received light amount of both the signal transmitted and propagated through the first foreign material filler 101 and the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93b and propagated through the second foreign material filler 102 are changed, and the received light amount is changed. A difference occurs. Therefore, the position where the load is applied can be specified accurately, and the resolution can be increased.

When the first foreign material filling 101 is made of a material having a relatively high signal propagation speed and the second foreign material filling 102 is made of a material having a relatively low signal propagation speed, the transmission unit When signals are transmitted simultaneously from both the transmission unit 93a and the transmission unit 93b, the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93a is first received by the reception unit 94a, and then the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93b is received by the reception unit 94a. Is done. Here, when a load is applied, the amount of received light of signals transmitted from the

transmission units

93a and 93b changes with respect to the amount of received light when no load is applied, and a difference occurs in the change in the amount of received light. That is, if the position where the load is applied is biased toward the transmission unit 93a when viewed from the reception unit 94a, the change in the amount of received light of the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93a becomes relatively large. On the other hand, if the position where the load is applied is biased toward the transmission unit 93b when viewed from the reception unit 94a, the change in the amount of received light of the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93b becomes relatively large.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. Here, for example, a control unit (not shown) is embedded in the filling 4, and the control unit controls the transmission timing of signals from the transmission units 93a to 93c, and the amount of change in the amount of received light in the reception units 94a to 94c. To calculate the position where the load is applied.

The control unit transmits signals simultaneously from all the transmission units 93a to 93c (S11). The control unit acquires the received light amount of the signal transmitted from the transmission units 93a to 93c and propagated through the first foreign material filling 101 and received by the reception unit 94a (S12). The control unit 12 converts the acquired amount of received light into a first conversion value by comparing with the amount of received light when no load is applied (S13).

Next, the control unit acquires the received light amount of the signal transmitted from the transmission units 93a to 93c and propagated through the second foreign material filler 102 and received by the reception unit 94a (S14). The control unit converts the acquired amount of received light into a second conversion value by comparing with the amount of received light when no load is applied (S15). The control unit uses the arrangement positions of the transmission units 93a to 93c, the first conversion value, and the second conversion value to calculate the position to which the load is applied using the mass point calculation method (S16).

Although the above description has been given of the amount of light received by the receiving unit 94a, the same applies to the amount of light received by the receiving

units

94b and 94c. Moreover, although the above demonstrated the structure by which the different material filling part 91 was filled with two types of

different material fillings

101 and 102, the number of types of different material fillings with which a different material filling part is filled is adjusted. Thus, the resolution can be adjusted. That is, as shown in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, the different material filling section 111 is filled with four types of different material fillings 112 to 115, that is, two different types in two directions. In the configuration in which the

transmission units

116a and 116b are arranged in contact with each other and the

reception units

117a and 117b are arranged in contact with the

different material fillings

113 and 115, respectively, The resolution can be increased by a factor of 4 for a single configuration. Further, as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, it is sufficient that the same kind of different material fillings do not adjoin each other, and the different material filling portion 111 is filled with two kinds of different material fillings 112 to 114 in two directions. The configuration may be acceptable.

Further, as shown in FIG. 21 and FIG. 22, the different material filling portion 111 is filled with four kinds of different material fillings 112 to 115 in a straight line, that is, four kinds in one direction, and comes into contact with the

different material fillings

112 and 114. Even if the transmitting

units

116a and 116b are arranged and the receiving

units

117a and 117b are arranged in contact with the

different material fillings

113 and 115, respectively, The resolution can be increased by a factor of 4 with respect to the various configurations. Also in this case, as shown in FIG. 23 and FIG. 24, the same kind of different material fillings do not have to be adjacent to each other, and the different material filling part 111 is filled with three kinds of different material fillings 112 to 114 in one direction. The structure which is made may be sufficient. According to the sixth embodiment, as in the fifth embodiment, in addition to being able to stably detect contact with a soft object over a wide area in a plane, the position where a load is applied is accurately specified. Can increase the resolution.

(Seventh embodiment)
Next, a seventh embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Description of the same parts as those of the sixth embodiment described above will be omitted, and different parts will be described. In the sixth embodiment, the different material filling part 91 is filled with a plurality of different material fillings. However, in the seventh embodiment, the upper surface part and the side wall part of the different material filling part 91 are provided. The reflectance is divided.

Of the upper surface portion of the different material filling portion 91, the wall surface portion 121 from right above the receiving unit 94 a to the lower end of the left side surface portion is processed with a color having a relatively high reflectance. The wall surface portion 122 from the top of the receiving unit 94a to the lower end of the right side surface is processed with a color having a relatively low reflectance. That is, when signals are transmitted from both the transmission unit 93a and the transmission unit 93b at the same time, the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93a is first received by the reception unit 94a, and then the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93b is received. Received by unit 94a. Again, when a load is applied, the amount of received light of the signals transmitted from the

transmission units

93a and 93b changes with respect to the amount of received light when no load is applied, and a difference occurs in the change in the amount of received light. That is, if the position where the load is applied is biased toward the transmission unit 93a when viewed from the reception unit 94a, the change in the amount of received light of the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93a becomes relatively large. On the other hand, if the position where the load is applied is biased toward the transmission unit 93b when viewed from the reception unit 94a, the change in the amount of received light of the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93b becomes relatively large. It should be noted that the resolution can be adjusted by adjusting the number of types of colors that are processed on the wall surface, as in the sixth embodiment. According to the seventh embodiment, similarly to the sixth embodiment, in addition to being able to stably detect contact with a soft object over a wide area in a plane, the position to which a load is applied is accurately specified. Can increase the resolution.

(Eighth embodiment)
Next, an eighth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Description of the same parts as those of the sixth embodiment described above will be omitted, and different parts will be described. In the sixth embodiment, the different material filling part 91 is filled with a plurality of different material fillings, but in the eighth embodiment, the different material filling part 91 is filled with one different material filling. And at least one of the wavelength, frequency and phase of the signal is different.

A rectangular parallelepiped different material filling portion 91 is formed in a predetermined portion of the filling 4, and the different material filling portion 91 is filled with a different material filling 92. Three transmitting units 93a to 93c and three receiving units 94a to 94c are arranged side by side on the lower surface of the different material filling portion 91. The transmitting unit 93a and the receiving unit 94a, the transmitting unit 93b and the receiving unit 94b, the transmitting unit 93c and the receiving unit 94c form a pair, and the signals transmitted by the transmitting units 93a to 93c are each of the wavelength, frequency and phase. At least one is different. In this case, from the relationship of “propagation speed = wavelength × frequency”, if the frequency of the signal transmitted from each of the transmission units 93a to 93c is the same, the propagation speed of each signal differs if the wavelength of each signal is different. If the wavelengths of the signals transmitted by the transmission units 93a to 93c are the same, the propagation speed of each signal is different if the frequency of each signal is different.

That is, if the wavelength and frequency are adjusted so that the propagation speed is increased in the order of the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93a, the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93b, and the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93c, When signals are simultaneously transmitted from the transmission units 93a to 93c, the signals transmitted from the transmission unit 93a are first received by the reception units 94a to 94c, and the signals transmitted from the transmission unit 93b are subsequently transmitted to the reception units 94a to 94c. The signals received and subsequently transmitted from the transmission unit 93c are received by the reception units 94b to 94c.

In this case, when the control unit simultaneously transmits signals from all the transmission units 93a to 93c (S21), the control unit acquires the received light amount of the signal according to the order of high propagation speed and converts it into a converted value. That is, when the receiving units 94a to 94c are classified as the first to third receiving units according to the order in which the signal reception timing is early, the control unit transmits the signals from the transmitting units 93a to 93c and receives them by the first receiving unit 94a. The received light amount of the received signal is acquired (S22). The control unit converts the acquired amount of received light into a first conversion value by comparing with the amount of received light when no load is applied (S23).

Next, after the time t1 corresponding to the difference in propagation speed between the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93a and the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93b has elapsed, the control unit transmits the second signal transmitted from the transmission units 93a to 93c. The received light amount of the signal received by the receiving unit 94b is acquired (S24). The control unit converts the acquired amount of received light into a second conversion value by comparing with the amount of received light when no load is applied (S25).

Next, after the time t2 corresponding to the difference in propagation speed between the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93b and the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93c has elapsed, the control unit transmits the third signal transmitted from the transmission units 93a to 93c. The received light amount of the signal received by the receiving unit 94c is acquired (S26). The control unit converts the acquired amount of received light into a third conversion value by comparing with the amount of received light when no load is applied (S27). The control unit uses the arrangement positions of the transmission units 93a to 93c and the first to third conversion values to calculate a position to which a load is applied using a mass point calculation method (S28). Although the case where the propagation speeds of the signals transmitted from the transmission units 93a to 93c are different from each other has been described above, the same applies to configurations having different signal phases. According to the eighth embodiment, as in the sixth embodiment, in addition to being able to stably detect contact with a soft object over a wide area in a plane, the position where a load is applied is accurately specified. Can increase the resolution.

(Ninth embodiment)
Next, a ninth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. A description of the same parts as those in the above-described eighth embodiment will be omitted, and different parts will be described. The eighth embodiment is configured to vary the reception timing by changing the propagation speed and phase of the signal, but the ninth embodiment is configured to vary the reception timing by varying the signal transmission timing. is there.

The control unit synchronizes the signal reception timings of the reception units 94a to 94c with the transmission timings of the pair of transmission units 93a to 93c. When the transmission units 93a to 93c are classified as the first to third transmission units in the order of early signal transmission timing, the control unit transmits a signal from the first transmission unit 93a (S31). The received light amount of the signal transmitted from the transmission unit 93a and received by the first reception unit 94a is acquired (S32). The control unit compares the acquired received light amount with the received light amount when no load is applied, and converts the received light amount into a first conversion value (S33).

Next, the control unit starts from the second transmission unit 93b after a time t1 corresponding to a difference between a predetermined transmission timing of the signal from the transmission unit 93a and a transmission timing of the signal from the transmission unit 93b elapses. A signal is transmitted (S34), and the received light amount of the signal transmitted from the second transmission unit 93b and received by the reception unit 94b is acquired (S35). The control unit converts the acquired amount of received light into a second conversion value by comparing with the amount of received light when no load is applied (S36).

Next, the control unit starts from the third transmission unit 93c after a time t2 corresponding to a difference between a predetermined transmission timing of the signal from the transmission unit 93b and a transmission timing of the signal from the transmission unit 93c has elapsed. A signal is transmitted (S37), and the received light amount of the signal transmitted from the third transmission unit 93c and received by the third reception unit 94c is acquired (S38). The control unit converts the acquired amount of received light into a third conversion value by comparing with the amount of received light when no load is applied (S39). The control unit uses the arrangement positions of the transmission units 93a to 93c and the first to third conversion values to calculate a position to which a load is applied using a mass point calculation method (S40). According to the ninth embodiment, as in the eighth embodiment, in addition to being able to stably detect contact with a soft object over a wide area in a plane, the position where a load is applied is accurately specified. Can increase the resolution.

(Other embodiments)
Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to the embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments and structures. The present disclosure includes various modifications and modifications within the equivalent range. In addition, various combinations and forms, as well as other combinations and forms including only one element, more or less, are within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

The soft object may be a cushion or the like.
In the fourth embodiment, the configuration in which the plurality of contact sensors 73 are linearly arranged at equal intervals is illustrated, but the configuration in which the contact sensors 73 are arranged in a plane shape at equal intervals may be used.

In the fourth embodiment, the configuration in which the server 82 for processing a plurality of detection results is arranged outside the soft object is exemplified. However, the same function as the server 82 is arranged in the soft object. good.

Claims

In the contact sensor (12, 30, 40) for detecting contact with the soft object (3, 21, 31) filled with the filler (4, 22, 32, 41 to 45),
A different material filling portion (5, 23, 33, 51, 61, 91, 111) disposed in the filling;
The different material filling portion is filled with a different material from the filling, and is compressed when a load is applied to the soft object, and is restored when the load is released. Material filling (6, 24, 34, 52, 62, 92, 101, 102, 112 to 115);
At least one signal transmitter (9, 27, 37) that is provided in contact with a predetermined surface portion (5a, 61a, 91a) of the different material filling portion and transmits a signal toward the different material filling;
At least one signal receiving unit (10, 28, 38) that is provided in contact with the predetermined surface portion of the different material filling unit and receives the signal transmitted from the signal transmission unit and propagated through the different material filling. )When,
A contact sensor comprising: a contact detection unit (11, 29, 39) that detects a contact with the soft object using a change in a signal reception state in the signal reception unit.
The contact sensor according to claim 1, wherein the different material filling portion (91) is filled with a plurality of the different material fillings (101, 102) having different propagation speeds of the signal.
The contact sensor according to claim 2, wherein the different material filling portion is filled with the plurality of different material fillings according to a predetermined resolution.
There are a plurality of pairs of the signal transmitter and the signal receiver,
4. The contact sensor according to claim 1, wherein a pair of the plurality of signal transmission units and the signal reception unit is different from at least one of a wavelength, a frequency, and a phase of the signal from others.
A plurality of the signal transmitters;
The contact sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the plurality of signal transmission units transmit the signal at a transmission timing different from others.
A plurality of the signal receivers;
The contact sensor according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of signal receiving units receive the signal at a reception timing different from others.
The contact detection unit detects a contact with the soft object by calculating a change amount from the value of the reception state when no load is applied to the soft object as a reference value. The contact sensor as described in any one of 6 to 6.
The signal transmitting unit irradiates light toward the different material filling,
The signal receiving unit is incident on the light that is irradiated from the signal transmitting unit and propagates through the foreign material filling,
The contact sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the contact detection unit detects contact with the soft object using a change in received light amount in the signal reception unit.
The contact sensor according to claim 8, wherein the contact detection unit updates the reference value.
The said contact detection part updates the said reference value using the value of the receiving state when the said different material filling restored | restored because the load provided to the said soft object was dissolved. Contact sensor.
The contact sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the foreign material filling (6, 24, 34, 62) is air.
The said different-material filling part (61) is a shape which covers the transmission direction of the said signal in the said signal transmission part, and the reception direction of the said signal in the said signal reception part by hemisphere. The described contact sensor.
The different material filling portion (74) disposed in the filling (72) filled in the soft object, the different material filling portion is filled with a material different from the filling, and the load is Compressed by being applied to the soft object and in contact with the different material filling (75) configured to be restored when the load is released, and a predetermined surface portion (74a) of the different material filling portion Provided at least one signal transmitting portion (78) for transmitting a signal toward the different material filling, and in contact with the predetermined surface portion of the different material filling portion, and transmitted from the signal transmitting portion. And at least one signal receiving unit (79) that receives the signal, and a contact detection unit (80) that detects contact with the soft object using a change in a signal reception state in the signal receiving unit, A plurality of contact sensors (73) comprising:
A processing unit (84) for inputting and processing the detection results of the plurality of contact sensors,
The plurality of contact sensors are arranged at different positions in the one filling,
The said processing part is a contact sensor system (71) which calculates the action point and quantity of the load to the said soft object using the arrangement position and detection result of these contact sensors.
The contact sensor system according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of contact sensors are arranged at equal intervals.