Robotic Tactile Sensing

Robotic tactile sensing studies how machines can use contact to estimate forces, surface geometry, material properties, and events such as slip. Sensors use optical skins and cameras, resistive or capacitive arrays, magnetic elements, and acoustic or fluidic signals, often paired with learning methods for force estimation and recognition. These capabilities support contact-rich manipulation, grasping, legged locomotion, and surgical tasks; active touch and multimodal fusion help robots decide where and how to make contact. A central challenge is transferring models across sensors and real-world conditions: calibration, durability, sensor variation, and sim-to-real gaps remain obstacles despite progress in shared datasets and physical simulation.