EasyCalib: Simple and Low-Cost In-Situ Calibration for Force Reconstruction with Vision-Based Tactile Sensors

For elastomer-based tactile sensors, represented by visuotactile sensors, routine calibration of mechanical parameters (Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio) has been shown to be important for force reconstruction. However, the reliance on existing in-situ calibration methods for accurate force measurements limits their cost-effective and flexible applications. This article proposes a new in-situ calibration scheme that relies only on comparing contact deformation. Based on the detailed derivations of the normal contact and torsional contact theories, we designed a simple and low-cost calibration device, EasyCalib, and validated its effectiveness through extensive finite element analysis. We also explored the accuracy of EasyCalib in the practical application and demonstrated that accurate contact distributed force reconstruction can be realized based on the mechanical parameters obtained. EasyCalib balances low hardware cost, ease of operation, and low dependence on technical expertise and is expected to provide the necessary accuracy guarantees for wide applications of visuotactile sensors in the wild.