Data from experiments with Fabric-Based Multimodal Tactile Sensing Skin (2016)
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Type of Data:

The data collected includes raw temperature data from the thermal sensors in
the multimodal skin. The data was collected from pressing and sliding tasks done
with the skin on samples of aluminum and pinewood. In the pressing tasks, the
skin was pressed onto a sample for 4 seconds. For the sliding task, the skin was
used to push and slide the sample a distance of 20 cm in 2 seconds. For both
tasks, a force detection threshold of .1 N was used to determine the start of
contact with the sample.
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Data File Format

The data is formated in a Pickle file.


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Accessing and Plotting the Data
The code used here accesses the data from the pickle file using the pickle
module. Follow this link to see the python documentation of pickle
https://docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html#what-can-be-pickled-and-unpickled

We used Python 2.7.12 on Ubuntu 12.04 to create the pickle file.
You can look at the documentation that corresponds to the version of Python
that you are using.

We also used the Plotly api to generate the graphs you see on the website.
To use the api, create an account on https://plot.ly/ . Once you set up your
account, follow the setup instructions to use the Plotly api with python. The
setup instructions can be found here: https://plot.ly/python/getting-started/
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Sample Code
The code below uses Python 2.7.12 on Ubuntu 14.04 to access the data and
generate graphs using the plotly api.

#!/usr/bin/python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import pickle as pk
import plotly.plotly as py
import plotly.graph_objs as go

## Retrieves data from the Pickle File
def load_pickle(filename):
    try:
        p = open(filename, 'r')
    except IOError:
        print("The file cannot be opened")
        return None
    try:
        pickle_obj = pk.load(p)
    except ValueError:
        print("Loading Pickle File failed. Trying Again.")
        p.close()
        p = open(filename, 'r')
        pickle_obj = pk.load(p)
    p.close()
    return pickle_obj

## Plots the data using the plotly api
def plot_data_ply(data):
    t = []
    force = []
    for item in data:
        t.append(item[0])
        force.append(item[4])

    trace0 = go.Scatter(
        x = t,
        y = force,
        mode = 'line',
        line = dict(
                color = ('rgb(22, 96, 67)'),
                width = 4
            )
        )
    plot_data = [trace0]
    plot_layout = dict(
        title = 'Force over Time',
        xaxis = dict(title = 'Time (seconds)'),
        yaxis = dict(title = 'Force (N)'),
        )
    figure = dict(data = plot_data, layout = plot_layout)
    py.plot(figure)

data = load_pickle('trial_5_processed.pkl')
plot_data_ply(data)