Equipped with a novel optical sensor, a robot grasps a USB
plug and inserts it into a USB port.
Researchers at MIT and Northeastern University have equipped
a robot with a novel tactile sensor that lets it grasp a USB cable draped
freely over a hook and insert it into a USB port.
The sensor is an adaptation of a technology called GelSight,
which was developed by the lab of Edward Adelson, the John and Dorothy Wilson
Professor of Vision Science at MIT, and first described in 2009. The new sensor
isn’t as sensitive as the original GelSight sensor, which could resolve details
on the micrometer scale. But it’s smaller — small enough to fit on a robot’s
gripper — and its processing algorithm is faster, so it can give the robot
feedback in real time.