Human level touch/somatosensory system is one of the key breakthroughs needed to make humanoid robots truly useful.
As this articles details, touch is a lot more complex than simply “is there force on this spot” and the sheer amount of information our bodies process subconsciously throughout our everyday activities is staggering.
Ever wonder why it’s so hard to use a pen to write something if your hands are too cold, or if your arm has “fallen asleep”? Robots are in that state all the time, and we have to use a lot of fancy tricks to get them to manipulate objects without being able to feel them very well.
Whoever can solve this problem, with a product which is relatively cheap, reliable, and high resolution, will be creating a multibillion dollar opportunity for themselves.
As someone who works in robotics, I’d put my money on arrays of MEMS or microfluidic channels embedded inside a gel membrane.
Readit News
As this articles details, touch is a lot more complex than simply “is there force on this spot” and the sheer amount of information our bodies process subconsciously throughout our everyday activities is staggering.
Ever wonder why it’s so hard to use a pen to write something if your hands are too cold, or if your arm has “fallen asleep”? Robots are in that state all the time, and we have to use a lot of fancy tricks to get them to manipulate objects without being able to feel them very well.
Whoever can solve this problem, with a product which is relatively cheap, reliable, and high resolution, will be creating a multibillion dollar opportunity for themselves.
As someone who works in robotics, I’d put my money on arrays of MEMS or microfluidic channels embedded inside a gel membrane.