Robotics is one of the areas that is currently under development thanks to the advancement in the development of technology. Although robots may seem very futuristic, some companies today use them to facilitate work. But there are also humanoid robots that speak and behave like a human being or even react live to things we say to them. In addition, it seems that a new way of making robots feel the sense of touch in the same way as a person would have been discovered.
It is difficult for engineers to recreate the senses that humans have in robots. Still, there has been a long time trying to make robots have a sense of touch, and it seems that robots made of soft materials could.
A very complex job
For many years, many groups of engineers have tried to replicate the sense of human touch in robots, using state-of-the-art technology and soft rather than hard materials.
Yes, it is possible to make a robotic hand very similar to a human one, but not to replicate the sense of touch in them. Achieving this became a very difficult task.
However, a group of researchers from Beihang University in Beijing, China, has created a technique capable of making robotic fingers made of soft materials able to detect this sense.
It’s all thanks to a technique called proprioception. This is what makes humans or even many animals feel the position and movement of the fingers when they touch any surface.
The researchers realized that any artificial sensor feels much more than human beings, so implementing these sensors in robotic hands would be a key to investigate the sense of touch in robots.
A multi-part system
The system that the researchers created to create the sense of touch in a robot has the following elements : through a system that had a linear actuator, a sensor that detects tension, a cable and a prototype of a robot finger.
As for its operation, the cable connects the finger to the actuator and the tension sensor is installed in the middle of the cable. In this way, when the actuator is activated, it will cause the cable to move and the finger to move with more or less tension. In this way, the finger will be able to detect what the surface it is touching is like , if it is smoother, rougher, if it is dry or wet, etc.
The experiments have been an absolute success as almost 100% correctness has been achieved during the tests. This is an unprecedented achievement in creating a sense of touch in robots.
In addition, a way is being sought to implement this sensory sense in robotic hands that already exist and do not have this system.
The development team has already announced that when it further develops its system it will collaborate with a nanotechnology lab to develop these cheaper touch sensors.
