Researchers develop artificial skin to help robots ‘feel’

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) announced they have been conducting work that aims to give robots a sense of touch through artificial skin.

Researchers presented an artificial skin at Robotics: Science and Systems 2020, which allows robots to detect touch 1,000 times faster than human sensory nervous system. It can also identify the shape, texture and hardness of objects 10 times faster than the blink of an eye.

One of the lead researchers, said, “The ability to feel and better perceive surroundings could also allow for closer and safer human-robotic interaction, such as in caregiving professions, or bring us closer to automating surgical tasks by giving surgical robots the sense of touch that they lack today”

Researchers used it to teach a robotic hand to read Braille and it is said that enabling a human-like sense of touch in robotics could significantly improve current functionality