Understanding Properties of DriveBay Electromagnetic Tracker for Use in Soft Robot Experiments

Soft Robotics experiments necessitate advanced measurement techniques to track robot pose and deformations accurately. Electromagnetic tracking systems provide substantial benefits over vision-based systems, especially in capturing both the position and orientation of a robot’s surface without occlusion issues. However, these systems are typically designed for applications in controlled environments, with multiple guidelines stated by the producers, necessitating an evaluation of their effectiveness in different contexts. This paper presents a series of foundational experiments to assess the capabilities and limitations of such a system in Soft Robotics. We investigate the impact of distance from the base station, resistance to environmental interference, effects of metallic elements, and the accuracy of rotational measurements. The results demonstrate a significant influence of positional accuracy relative to the distance from the transmitter, with a tenfold decrease in accuracy observed. Additionally, the presence of metallic objects in close proximity (less than 20 mm) to the probes adversely affects accuracy, as do large metallic elements such as construction materials. This effect is particularly pronounced when the sampling frequency of the system aligns with multiples of the electrical network frequency, resulting in more than a tenfold reduction in accuracy.