[Product Introduction] Sensitive Skin for Robots | Intouch-Robotics Tactile Patch Sensor e-skin

On the Unipos website, they have announced an advanced sensor made by German company Intouch-Robotics that can give various robots a sense of touch.Sensitive Skin (e-skin)page has been added.

sensitive skinis a tactile patch that detects pressure, pre-touch, temperature, and more. Using AI-powered multi-point tactile control software, it is easy to add flexible tactile capabilities to robots, helping them to physically interact with their surroundings more precisely and safely.

It is easy to apply to cobots, can be quickly installed, and has excellent energy-saving performance. It is expected to be used in a wide range of situations, from the medical field to industrial applications.

About Intouch-Robotics

Intouch-Robotics is a robotics company based in the innovation-promoting ecosystem of Munich, Germany. Its mission is to make the world a better place by utilizing robotics technology, and it is focusing on innovation in the fields of AI and robotics, particularly focusing on robot control and sensing.
We provide proprietary hardware and software sensing technology that gives any robot a sense of touch, making operation safer and more intuitive.

Features of Sensitive Skin (e-skin)

• Transform any robot into a cobot
  Since it is a custom product provided for the user's desired robot, it can be used for any robot.
• Intelligent Tactile Sensing
  A flexible, sheet-like distributed tactile sensor with a thickness of about 5 mm that can detect "pressure," "pre-touch (pre-contact detection)," and "temperature."
• Multi-touch Control Software
  Software that enables instant multi-touch operation of robots
• Easily adaptable
  Auto-configuration makes deployment flexible, affordable and fast
• High energy efficiency
  Neuromorphic-based design consumes low power and requires minimal computing resources to function

Use Case

Intouch-Robotics offers customized products tailored to the customer's applications and needs.

Below are some use cases and excerpts from news articles posted on the manufacturer's website. We hope that by referring to these, you can get an idea of ​​how the product can be used in practice.

Fiad – Factory-in-a-day by EU-FP7

EU project aims to lower barriers for European SMEs to adopt advanced robotics technology

"Factory-in-a-day" enables the rapid installation and reprogramming of robots, helping companies automate their production lines in less than a day.

In this project, e-skin from Intouch-Robotics is used as a sensor for the collaborative robot, facilitating hand teaching, which is the process of teaching the robot a task.

Human-Robot Collaboration by KU Leuven

Integrating Artificial Skin Signals into Constraint-Based Reactive Control for Human-Robot Collaborative Manipulation Tasks

This video introduces a human-robot collaboration (HRC) strategy from TU Leuven, where a robot and an operator interact in a shared workspace to accomplish a task.

Experiments are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model in enabling a robot to avoid collisions in dynamic environments by culling relevant data based on strength and spatial information from an artificial skin (e-skin) in constraint-based reactive control.

Sensitive Skin for Robots by TUM

Development of a system that combines artificial skin inspired by human skin and control algorithms

This video introduces the first autonomous humanoid robot with full-body artificial skin (e-skin), developed by a research team from the Technical University of Munich.

The highly sensitive e-skin allows the robot to sense its own body and its surrounding environment.

Humanoid Multi-Contact Motion Based on Distributed Tactile Sensors RA-L 2024

The paper was published in the international journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.Whole-Body Multi-Contact Motion Control for Humanoid Robots Based on Distributed Tactile Sensors" The magazine reports on experiments using RHP Kaleido, a humanoid robot made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and equipped with e-skin.

[Introduction Video]automatica – Human-Robot Collaboration

An introductory video from Automatica, the global trade fair for smart automation and robotics.

At Continental's automotive parts manufacturing plant in Germany, collaborative robots work alongside humans outside the fence, taking over repetitive tasks that are stressful for humans. It is expected that e-skin will be used to further optimize the collaborative work environment between humans and robots.

e-skin is so sensitive that just touching it with its wing causes the machine to recoil. The luminescence sensor that enables this high sensitivity measures changes in the temperature of the environment, the speed at which the robot moves, and whether or not it has come into contact with something.

[Introduction Video] Robots Can Have Skin Now | SciShow News

An introductory video about e-skin, a technology that gives robots the functionality of human skin.

Enabling robots to sense the shape, texture, and temperature of objects will greatly improve the precision of robot operation and interaction with humans, and is expected to lead to applications in a wide range of fields, including medicine, nursing care, and manufacturing.