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This Robot Arm Can Feel Touch Like a Human

Researchers in Hong Kong have built a robotic arm that feels contact across its entire length using soft optical skin. It can tell different kinds of touch apart, steady unbalanced loads by sensing pressure, and steer around obstacles it cannot see—while still matching the strength and precision of a normal industrial arm.

We dig into how the system works and what denser body-based sensing could mean for robots that share space with people.

This episode includes AI-generated content.

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