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Robots with a sense of touch

Nature Materials volume 15, pages 921–925 (2016)Cite this article

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Tactile sensors provide robots with the ability to interact with humans and the environment with great accuracy, yet technical challenges remain for electronic-skin systems to reach human-level performance.

The development of the sense of touch in robotics is an engineering challenge. The so-called electronic skin, which covers different parts of a robot with sensors that respond to mechanical and other environmental stimuli, requires system-level development that spans from materials and electronics up to communication and processing. Robots equipped with tactile sensing may have many different applications, ranging from industry to health care, each dictating specific requirements and trade-offs in terms of the range of operating forces, frequencies and resolution. In general, large deformations in the sensor's material allow the measurement of external forces with greater accuracy. Such elements should be reliable and robust, as they usually protect the electronics against impacts and scratches, as well as dust and water. High sensitivity has to be in balance with durability, which is key for any artificial device used daily in domestic or industrial scenarios. In addition, the response of the sensor should not change with time nor with temperature, and should have close to zero hysteresis. In this Commentary, we focus on skin systems for robotics, discussing their key requirements and related issues.

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Figure 1: Examples of whole-body control tasks and human–robot interaction.
Figure 2: Four examples of technologies for robotic skin systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chiara Bartolozzi, Lorenzo Natale, Francesco Nori and Giorgio Metta are at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, via Morego, 30, 16143 Genoa, Italy,

    Chiara Bartolozzi, Lorenzo Natale, Francesco Nori & Giorgio Metta

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  1. Chiara Bartolozzi
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  2. Lorenzo Natale
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  3. Francesco Nori
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  4. Giorgio Metta
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Correspondence to Giorgio Metta.

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Bartolozzi, C., Natale, L., Nori, F. et al. Robots with a sense of touch. Nature Mater 15, 921–925 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4731

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