Future robots could have fingertips more sensitive than ours
26 Oct 2009, 1037 Hrs

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Edinburgh, October 26 Thanks to research being carried out by Scottish scientists, robots of the future could have fingertips more sensitive than those of humans.

According to a report in The Scotsman, researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Sheffield connected artificial mouse whiskers to a robotic brain to gain a better understanding of how the brain processes information relayed by touch.

The scientists found that when objects were brushed against the whiskers, the robot brain learned how to interpret the whisker movement according to its direction, mimicking the function of how a real brain understands touch sensations.

The study could help develop robots with touch sensors as sensitive as fingertips, according to the scientists.

It added evidence to support the theory that the brain learns to understand signals from the senses through experience, and suggests that interpreting touch is not simply instinctive.

"Our findings increase our understanding of how the brain learns how to process tactile information," said Dr James Bednar, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics, who took part in the research.

"We hope these results will help the design of robots with senses even more finely tuned than our own," he added.

The researchers believe that robots with sensitive fingertips could be useful for prosthetic limbs or for carrying out intricate work in dangerous environments, such as bomb disposal. (ANI)

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