Method and apparatus for robot collision avoidance by full surface proximity detection

A method of collision avoidance by surface proximity detection of an obstacle relative to an object, the method being performed by at least one processor, and the method comprising:

• controlling a first one among piezoelectric elements attached to a surface of the object, to generate an acoustic wave along the surface of the object;
• receiving, via a second one among the piezoelectric elements, an acoustic wave signal corresponding to an acoustic impedance change in an acoustic pressure field perturbed by a standing wave pattern or interference pattern established by the obstacle;
• reducing noise of the received acoustic wave signal by filtering, using a band-pass filter, the received acoustic wave signal;
• obtaining a proximity signal for proximity detection, from the filtered acoustic wave signal, using a linear time-invariant filter;
• and
• detecting whether the obstacle is adjacent to the surface of the object by inputting the obtained proximity signal into a neural network.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

• control a first one among piezoelectric elements attached to a surface of an object, to generate an acoustic wave along the surface of the object;
• receive, via a second one among the piezoelectric elements, an acoustic wave signal corresponding to an acoustic impedance change in an acoustic pressure field perturbed by a standing wave pattern or interference pattern established by an obstacle;
• reduce noise of the received acoustic wave signal by filtering, by using a band-pass filter, the received acoustic wave signal;
• obtain a proximity signal for proximity detection, from the filtered acoustic wave signal, using a linear time-invariant filter;
• and
• detect whether an obstacle is adjacent to the surface of the object by inputting the obtained proximity signal into a neural network.