New AI Tactile Sensors Give Robots More Human-Like Understanding

Scientists have developed a new AI-powered tactile sensing hardware for robots. Many robots struggle with a fundamental comprehension of the world around them. This hardware helps robots predict the consequences of their own actions and plan accordingly as humans can.

ReSkin is a tactile sensing skin made of a flexible sheet of 2mm thick silicone with magnetic particles inside. The sheet sits on a magnetometer that detects the magnetic signal changes whenever the sheet is touched. The sheet is simple, low cost, and easily replaceable if damaged.

"Robotics could be used for telepresence, for maintaining data centers more automatically, but the more important aspect of it is making progress towards intelligent agents, the kinds of things that could be used in the metaverse, in augmented reality, and virtual reality," says  Yann LeCun, the Chief AI Scientist at Meta.

Tactile sensing aims to solve one piece of the puzzle of developing robotics that can interact with humans in a natural way, with some degree of common sense and intelligence.

 Source: Link