The sensitive touch

Machines with feelings are the province of science fiction — perhaps fortunately. But advances in sensors mean that machines that have a sense of touch are swiftly becoming a reality.

An EU-funded project aims to develop a 'biomimetic finger', combining robotics, electronics and materials science to make an artificial copy of the human finger that can be connected directly to the central nervous system. This brings closer the prospect of prosthetic hands that can provide the same sort of sensory feedback as the natural senses.

Called NanoBioTact, the project is set to start in the next few months. Project co-ordinator Mike Adams of

explained that the project is aiming to exploit recent research on how to integrate signals from synthetic sensors with the nervous system. 'There are quite significant developments in attaching prosthetic limbs to the body and in connecting up this sort of information directly to nerve endings,' he said. 'But current prostheses are equipped with relatively crude force transducers, derived from robotics; they're designed to help you pick up a polystyrene coffee cup without spilling it. What they're not designed for is tactile sensing.'