Researchers have found a way to give robots a little of that human touch.
For robots to be able to do more, it seems they need to be able to feel more.
Mechanoreception, or the ability to sense object pressure and other stimuli, is crucial to our dexterity, and makes even a clumsy toddler better at certain object-related tasks than a sophisticated robot.
Improving robotic touch would not only lead to more dextrous robots (insert dystopian sci-fi premonition here) but also make prosthetic limbs a lot more handy.
Researchers from Bristol University led by Professor Nathan Lepora have brought this closer by creating a 3D-printed tactile fingertip or “TacTip” that compares impressively with neural recordings of human touch.
The TacTip is largely biomimetic; e.g. its “skin” has two layers of different stiffness, like the layers of natural skin. Merkel cell complexes, which in humans protrude back from the harder ridges on a finger’s surface into the soft dermis, are mimicked with stiff pins that protrude into a softer underlayer of silicone gel.
The team used optical signals from these pins to measure what the TacTip was “feeling” when tested on various pressures and textures, and compared the results against recorded nerve signals from human fingers.
The results were “startlingly close” match to the human data, Professor Lepora said, though the OG fingers were more sensitive to fine detail.
“We found our 3D-printed tactile fingertip can produce artificial nerve signals that look like recordings from real, tactile neurons,” he said.
“Our aim is to make artificial skin as good – or even better – than real skin.”
Even better?
Your Back Page correspondent, who managed to sand her own fingerprints off again at the weekend doing some DIY, isn’t sure she can be trusted with better skin – but what a brave new world that might be.
If you see something that gives you goosebumps, send it to felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au
