Humanity uses robotic arms for quite some time; today they are able to capture many different things with extraordinary skill. However, to teach the robot a gentle touch is much more difficult. The robotic arm is facing difficulties, when you need to pull a specific object from the heap, or to take and does not damage fragile objects such as, for example, fruit.
Researchers from Nanyang technological University located in Singapore, has developed a way to store the information received by the robot touching the object. Built-in flexible artificial skin sensors can store changes in the electrical resistance when the force is applied. Ultrathin storage device capable of storing this information within a week.
The sensors were developed in the likeness of human tactile memory, which allows us to remember the feeling to the touch even after contact. Faux leather helps the robot to identify the object to which he touched before, and to apply appropriate effort in his capture. Usually requires complex algorithms and very efficient processors to create a robot that can learn and grasp different objects. However, if you store the information in the sensors of the artificial skin, the main processor of the robot is freed for other tasks.
“The emergence of tactile storage devices will allow to recreate the sensory memory of the person, opening new opportunities for creating high-tech robots of the new generation,” — said in a summary of scientific work, published in the journal Advanced Materials.
According to the materials of Popular Mechanics