Introduction
In a 2026 study published on ArXiv, Haofeng Chen and his team developed artificial skin that enables robots to sense touch.
Developments
Rather than using numerous sensors, the system determines the location and intensity of touch from changes in resistance across the surface using electrical impedance tomography (EIT).
The prototype, consisting of a TPU layer, electrodes, and pieces of conductive fabric, produced a highly accurate pressure map using only 16 electrodes.
Details
The researchers stated that the approach could particularly help humanoid robots interact more naturally with their surroundings.