Radiofrequency System for Localizing a Robotic Hand on a Surface Tagged with Passive Resonators

A preliminary study aimed at detecting the placement of a robotic hand working on a surface for layout and assembly purposes is presented. The goal is pursued by using a radiofrequency (RF) probe on the robotic hand and printed resonators on the surface. To detect the location of the hand orientation on the surface, the real part of the probe input impedance is examined for different orientations for each resonator placed on the surface. A special design of a coplanar dipole antenna with ground plane as a probe on the hand and a bended metal strip (bended dipole resonator) with different sizes placed on the sheet is employed. The sensing is performed within a near-range distance from the surface in one direction. It is observed that the proposed probe-resonator configuration allows the identification of the relative location of the hand with respect to the one of the resonators on the work surface with an encouraging level of accuracy.