(June 19, 2012) Robots
equipped with tactile sensor better able to identify materials through touch
than humans, enabling more lifelike prosthetics
What does a robot feel when it touches something? Little or nothing
until now. But with the right sensors, actuators and software, robots can be
given the sense of feel - or at least the ability to identify materials by
touch.
Researchers
at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering
published a study today in Frontiers in Neurorobotics showing that a
specially designed robot can outperform humans in identifying a wide range of
natural materials according to their textures, paving the way for advancements
in prostheses, personal assistive robots and consumer product testing.
The robot
was equipped with a new type of tactile sensor built to mimic the human
fingertip. It also used a newly designed algorithm to make decisions about how
to explore the outside world by imitating human strategies. Capable of other
human sensations, the sensor can also tell where and in which direction forces
are applied to the fingertip and even the thermal properties of an object being
touched.