HKUST builds robotic arm with full-length artificial tactile skin

Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) unveiled EmArm, a robotic arm with a soft optical tactile skin covering over 71,000 mm² of its upper and lower arms. The system detects contact, force and contact points with up to 99.8% accuracy, letting it manipulate objects and avoid obstacles without vision.

• Tactile skin covers more than 71,000 mm² of the upper and lower arms
• Spatial resolution of 0.085 mm and two-point discrimination threshold of 18.2 mm
• Classification accuracy for five touch behaviors reaches 99.8%
• Arm withstands loads over 15 kg and torsional loads of 7.35 N·m