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UK researchers have developed a robot fingertip that creates signals similar to the brain activity associated with human touch. Science fiction author, Gareth L. Powell, explores the possible implications of this technology.
Bristol Robotics Laboratory researchers have developed a 3D printed fingertip that creates signals similar to brain activity associated with human touch.
That could mean the difference between machines that play chess online, and machines that can actually pick up a pawn.
Machines can defeat the finest chess player in the world, but robots cannot manage a chess piece like a baby. Artificial grippers lack the precise tactile sense of the human fingertip, which is utilized to guide our hands as humans pick up and handle items, which contributes to their lack of dexterity.
Scientists have created the sense of touch in a 3D-printed fingertip using a mesh of pin-like papillae (bumps) on the underside of synthetic skin.