Researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed an inexpensive tactile sensor for robotic hands that is sensitive enough to turn a brute machine into a dextrous manipulator.
Designed by researchers in the Harvard Biorobotics Laboratory at SEAS, the sensor, called TakkTile, is intended to put what would normally be a high-end technology within the grasp of commercial inventors, teachers, and robotics enthusiasts.
TakkTile takes an existing device — a tiny barometer, which senses air pressure — and adds a layer of vacuum-sealed rubber to it, protecting it from as much as 25 pounds of direct pressure.
The result, when added to a mechanical hand, is a robot that knows what it's touching. The hand can pick up a balloon without popping it.
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