Fiber optic sensor embedded in robotic systems for 3-D orientation assessment using polymer fiber

Abstract

The present work is considered to installed sensor system to the robotics system. The structure of 3-D rotational sensor is based on polymer fiber, where two fibers are twisted to couple the light. Twisted fibers are kept in a bending shape after twisting and installed on the robot where three scenarios are carried out. The bending radius variation leads to the bending loss in the first fiber, and the loss is being coupled in the second fiber. Robot's orientation causes the change in the macro-bend radius of the sensor. Our proposed sensor analyzes the robot's orientation where the robot is moved in the full rotational cycle from 0° to 360° in both clock and anti-clockwise rotation directions. Furthermore, the robot is also rotated at different speeds to analyze the dynamic response and also analyzed for simultaneous response of roll, pitch, and yaw's orientation. The results indicate that the proposed sensor of present work is a timely response with the robot moments. The simple structure and flexible 3-D rotational sensor structure pave to easily integrate into the robotics system.