Humans and animals possess sophisticated skin that not only protects the body but is also exquisitely sensitive to physical contact. In contrast, most robots have no tactile sensing, since commercial touch sensors tend to be expensive, difficult to integrate into real robots, and rather limited in size, robustness, sensitivity, and/or reliability. How can we give robots an effective sense of touch, both at their fingertips and across their broad body surfaces? We purse a range of approaches to create practical tactile sensors for robots and deeply understand the tactile data generated during physical interactions between robots, humans, and physical objects.
We are working to create robust tactile sensors that can be easily manufactured and provide useful contact information. Some projects in this domain focus on covering the large surfaces of a robot's body with soft sensors that detect only normal force. Other projects aim to deliver much finer tactile sensation like the fingertip. We also frequently investigate new ways of using the rich time-series data from new and existing tactile sensors to increase a robot's haptic intelligence.
