• TacTip
• Pressure
• Soft Foot

In recent years, the abilities of humanoid robots have evolved so much that they are a real help to humans. In fact, robots have been designed for use in emergency situations and hostile environments to replace humans. In these cases, the stability of the robot plays a fundamental role, which depends particularly on the choice of feet, rigid or adaptive. After showing the state of the art of the feet used, the TacTip is characterized, an optical tactile sensor not commercially available, and two configurations for mapping the pressure of a robotic foot on uneven terrain are analyzed. In the first range of tests, the TacTip impacts samples made of silicone with different stiffness, which precisely mimic non-homogeneous terrain. For the second range of experiments, a sensorized floor is constructed: the system consists of the TacTip and a force/torque sensor. The protrusion of the TacTip is modified for each test. An adaptive robotic foot attached to the Franka Panda EMIKA is used.