February 24, 2010Robotics - Peratech Commissioned to Develop 'Tactile Robotic Skin' that Allows Robots to 'Feel' Touches
By Patrick BarnardSenior Web Editor, TMCnet
Researchers are developing a kind of “robotic skin” that allows robots and robotic devices to “feel” touches. According to this article on TMCnet, the MIT (News - Alert) Media Lab has commissioned Peratech Limited to develop this electronic “skin,” which will enable robots to detect not only that they have been touched, but where and how hard.
Playing a key role in the development of this “tactile robotic skin” is Peratech's patentedQuantum Tunnelling Composites, or “QTC” materials, which provide “a measured response to force and/or touch by changing electrical resistance -- much as a dimmer light switch controls a light bulb.”
According to the article, Peratech's QTC technology has already been used by NASA for its Robonaut device, and by Shadow Robot in the UK, which makes the world's most advanced robotic hand. This project with MIT, however, is a “world first in enabling a human to interact through touch across the body of a robot much as they would with another human.”
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By Patrick BarnardSenior Web Editor, TMCnet
Researchers are developing a kind of “robotic skin” that allows robots and robotic devices to “feel” touches. According to this article on TMCnet, the MIT (News - Alert) Media Lab has commissioned Peratech Limited to develop this electronic “skin,” which will enable robots to detect not only that they have been touched, but where and how hard.
Playing a key role in the development of this “tactile robotic skin” is Peratech's patentedQuantum Tunnelling Composites, or “QTC” materials, which provide “a measured response to force and/or touch by changing electrical resistance -- much as a dimmer light switch controls a light bulb.”
According to the article, Peratech's QTC technology has already been used by NASA for its Robonaut device, and by Shadow Robot in the UK, which makes the world's most advanced robotic hand. This project with MIT, however, is a “world first in enabling a human to interact through touch across the body of a robot much as they would with another human.”
READ MORE
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