Touch

When we pick up an object, we can adjust our grip if that object proves to be a slippery customer. ETH researchers have developed a sensor that could help robot grippers to do the same.

Although VR tech may allow users to see and hear computer-generated environments, the extent to which people can feel those worlds is still quite limited. That could be about to change, though, thanks to what's being called an "epidermal VR" system.

A human-sized robot has been equipped with 1,260 cells to create what is claimed to be the first autonomous humanoid robot with artificial skin covering its entire body.

A new "artificial skin" simulates a sense of touch via tiny air bladders.

Scientists have added tactile sensors to a prosthetic leg, allowing users to walk with much less effort.

​If you were trying to remotely operate a robotic hand, it would certainly makes things easier if you could feel what it was touching. Such a system was demonstrated this week at the Amazon re:MARS Tech Showcase, utilizing technology from three separate companies.

​It was just last year that we heard about the Fundamental Surgery simulator, which utilizes dual haptic feedback arms to provide the "feel" of performing various surgical procedures. The system has now been taken a step further, with the demonstrated integration of whole-hand VR gloves.

Cemtrex might not be well known in the world of office kit, but that hasn't stopped it launching what it regards as "the most advanced workstation on the market." And with everything it's shoehorned in – including a gesture control system dubbed the "Stark Gesture System" – it may well be.

Researchers at Caltech have induced a range of sensations in the arm of a paralyzed man. Electrodes implanted in the brain stimulated the neurons to produce different feelings. The research could eventually lead to prosthetic limbs that allow users to feel realistic sensations through them.

The bone structure of every person's dominant index finger is unique – so unique, in fact, that it can be used as a new form of biometric identification. Known as VibWrite, the technology was developed by a team from Rutgers University led by Prof. Yingying (Jennifer) Chen.

We're used to touchscreens, but now researchers have created new, touch-sensitive fibers that can be used to interact with electronic devices. The microscopic fibers capable of detecting touch, strain and twisting, which could lead to new sorts of wearable devices and sensing applications.

In an age when digital information can fly around the connected networks of the world in the blink of an eye, it may seem a little old timey to consider delivering messages by hand. Panasonic has developed a prototype comms system where data is transmitted from one person to another through touch.