Open Source Hardware Whisker Sensor

Robert Stevenson, Dimitris Paparas, Omar Faris, Xiaoxian Xu, Catherine Merchant, Elliot Smith, Benjamin Nicholls, Charles Fox

Abstract: Robot whisker sensors have been researched in many studies but have been difficult or impossible to replicate across labs. An open source hardware robot whisker is presented, including easy-to-follow visual build and test instructions. The design can be used by any researcher as a standard platform, enabling replication and comparison of studies in both open source software and open source hardware. The build instructions have been validated by a complete working rebuild by a researcher independent of the design. Numerical specifications are provided and validated. A rotating multi-whisker module design is also provided, which can be used in robots with rat-like whisker arrays.