skin unit
GenTact Toolbox: A Computational Design Pipeline to Procedurally Generate Context-Driven 3D Printed Whole-Body Tactile Skins
Kohlbrenner, Carson, Escobedo, Caleb, Bae, S. Sandra, Dickhans, Alexander, Roncone, Alessandro
Abstract-- Developing whole-body tactile skins for robots remains a challenging task, as existing solutions often prioritize modular, one-size-fits-all designs, which, while versatile, fail to account for the robot's specific shape and the unique demands of its operational context. In this work, we introduce the GenTact Toolbox, a computational pipeline for creating versatile whole-body tactile skins tailored to both robot shape and application domain. Our pipeline includes procedural mesh generation for conforming to a robot's topology, task-driven simulation to refine sensor distribution, and multi-material 3D printing for shape-agnostic fabrication. This work represents a shift from "one-size-fits-all" tactile sensors toward context-driven, highly adaptable designs that can be customized for a wide range of robotic systems and applications. Whole-body tactile skins are sensors designed to give a robot the sense of touch over the full integration levels because it requires manual assembly and surface of its body.