New skin-like sensors fit almost everywhere

Artificial hand: interaction with the robotic system. The sensor skin is very flexible and can be attached to many surfaces, including fingers, for example. Researchers from the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed an automatic process for making soft sensors. These universal measurement cells can be attached to almost any kind of object. Applications are envisioned especially in robotics and prosthetics. "Detecting and sensing our environment is essential for understanding how to interact with it effectively," says Sonja Groß. An important factor for interactions with objects is their shape.