Robot: Close your eyes, I’ll show you the world

Imagine that when you must close your eyes, even if it is pitch black, you can still perceive the world through the feeling of your body.

Now, robots have the same ability.

Previously, robots mostly acquired and generated three-dimensional information about the environment through motion cameras, lidar systems, and algorithms.

But this kind of vision system does not seem to be suitable for the current robot upstart-soft robot.

▲ A software robot from Harvard University

Soft robots can travel in places that are difficult for ordinary robots to reach due to their surprising bones and soft bodies. However, how to detect three-dimensional space in these “horns and corners” and how to accurately model the external environment has always been a problem.

Recently, an “Electronic skin” invented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can be covered on soft robots, helping these robots to perceive the outside world even if they are “blindfolded”.

▲ Picture from: MIT News

The electronic skin is made from a soft sheet of electro-silicon. Such materials are “piezoresistive”, which means that once touched, the voltage of the material changes, which affects the output current and forms a corresponding motion signal.

The researchers covered this “skin” on a cylindrical soft robot similar to animal limbs, and used a set of special deep learning algorithms to generate the external three-dimensional space and its own motion position based on the acquired data.

▲ Picture from: MIT News

While the electronic skin is soft enough, the researchers say it’s not stretchable enough to actually be used in soft robotics. As for materials, Ryan Truby, a postdoc in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Laboratory, says the skin can be fabricated from off-the-shelf materials, meaning any lab can develop its own system.

In addition, this sensor skin is not sensitive enough to capture subtle movements, but the researchers say this is an important first step. In the future, through continuous improvement, they can hope to create more sensitive artificial limbs that can match humans. The ability to judge the external environment well by touching the limbs.

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