In the United States, RoboSkin technology has been developed that will allow robots to gain a sense of touch, the National Defense Magazine website reports.
BeBop Sensors has developed a flexible material less than 1 mm thick that can be placed on the “finger” of a robot arm and give it information about the properties of the object it touches. Reportedly, each “finger” is 80 sensors capable of measuring pressure from 5 grams to 50 kilograms. Upon contact with an object, the fabric bends, and the sensors receive information from it about the properties of the object.
Keith McMillen, founder and president of BeBop Sensors, said that previously robots could only pick up and move objects without receiving feedback about their properties. The technology reportedly gives robots the ability to adapt to changing conditions, study the shape and properties of an object, weigh it, evaluate how to work with it. Data on the properties of an object can also be remotely transmitted to a person through special gloves.
Reportedly, this technology has many applications, including from a military point of view, for example, the disposal of explosive ordnance. In addition, the innovative “skin” can be adapted relatively quickly as hand or foot skin for humans, the company said.