Flexible “Skin” Senses Shear Force

To date, it has been difficult or impossible for most robotic and prosthetic hands to accurately sense the vibrations and shear forces that occur, for example, when a finger is sliding along a tabletop, or when an object begins to fall. Some robots today use fully instrumented fingers, but that sense of touch is limited to that appendage, and its shape or size cannot be changed to accommodate different tasks. The other approach is to wrap a robot appendage in a sensor skin, which provides better design flexibility; however, such skins have not yet provided a full range of tactile information.