Robot 'skin' senses touch and force

A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Media Lab have commissioned touch-technology material developer Peratech to create a new type of electronic ’skin’ that will give robots these enhanced capabilities.

The technology will allow robotic devices to better understand their presence and interaction with humans and other objects within a space. This is expected to become critically important as robotic devices become more a part of daily life.

Yorkshire-based Peratech has said that the key to its sensing technology is quantum tunnelling composite (QTC) materials. These composites provide a measured response to force and/or touch by changing electrical resistance. The technique is similar to how a dimmer switch controls a light bulb. This enables a simple electronic circuit within the robot to determine touch.

It is claimed that, unlike other touch-technology materials, QTCs provide a ’proportional’ response. In other words, they detect how hard they have been touched. Peratech also claims that, with its patented XY scanning technology, the robot is able to detect where it has been touched on a matrix of sensors.