A Robot with the Right Touch
UT Austin
A robot using a technology called FORTE holds a potato chip without breaking it.
Robots are cool, but they can be clumsy. If you ask a robot to pick up a soft peach or a pair of glasses, its hands might do some serious damage. But that could be about to change. A new robot hand can pick up an object as delicate as a potato chip.
“Right now, robotics is starting to be able to do large motions around the house, but struggles with really fine and delicate movements,” Siqi Shang said in an article on the University of Texas website. Shang, an engineering student at the University of Texas (UT), helped to develop a new technology. It’s called Fragile Object Grasping with Tactile Sensing (FORTE).
Scientists used the FORTE technology to build extra-sensitive robot fingers that contain air channels, or tunnels. When the fingers are grabbing an object, the air channels move, which changes the air pressure inside them. The fingers also contain sensors that monitor the air pressure to figure out if the object is being gripped with the right amount of force.
© Gstudio/stock.adobe.com; Photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Robots can do many things, but they often have trouble holding onto delicate objects.
“Humans pick up objects with just the right amount of force; too much and you’ll crush it, but too little and it’ll slip out of your hand,” said Lillian Chin, a UT engineering professor, or teacher. She said the new FORTE sensors allow robot hands to be more like human hands.
The researchers tested the FORTE technology on several objects. Some, like potato chips, were delicate. Others, like jam jars, were slippery. The machine held the object properly in more than nine out of 10 tests.
The technology could be used in places where a delicate touch is required. This could include providing health care and making food products.
