ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the recent developments of optical-based soft tactile sensing. Artificial tactile sensing is fundamental in many fields, such as robotics, prosthetics, wearable systems, or haptics. Several optical-based soft tactile sensors rely on the deformation of an optical waveguide, built with an optically clear soft material shaped in a long and narrow lace-like structure that have an emitter and a receiver at each extremity. Optical waveguide sensors can also be classified by their working principles. In particular, in the following, pressure and strain sensors will be considered, as pressure and strain are two important touch-related parameters. A continuum optical waveguide skin can be implemented with soft optically clear materials. New continuum optical waveguide skins can be designed, providing new exciting solutions for large-area tactile skins, with high spatial resolution, flexibility, and absence of cumbersome interconnections. Machine learning is an important possibility to process data in optical-based sensors, and it consists of the automated process of pattern extraction from data.
