There’s a new robot in town and this one’s got extra-sensitive feelings. No, not the emotional type. A texture-sensing robot using, what’s being called, BioTac technology has been developed by a group of Viterbi School researchers in Southern California.
The Verge paints this picture:
It has a soft exterior skin that surrounds a liquid filling and a bone-like core. Inside the core, the BioTac has a hydrophone — an underwater microphone — which detects vibrations as the sensor moves to determine texture. The team says the BioTac, just like its biological inspiration, can also detect directional force and temperature.
These good old robot fingers are said to be able to identify objects by touch even better than humans, which means when you take your robot fingered hand to the haunted house this Halloween, don’t be surprised when it’s not scared whatsoever by touching the grapes floating in a bowl of water. Even though it’s dark in there, that robot knows it isn’t touching a bowl of eyeballs. Know this: it can also sense your tears when you use it to wipe your scaredy-cat eyes while running out of the haunted house. Man up!
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
