Tactile Sensors Add the Perfect 'Touch' to Prostheses 
From: Medical Design Briefs - 06/21/2012
By: Katie Dunham

Adding tactile sensing to any prosthetic hand could greatly increase its
functionality. By incorporating the right sensors and a specially designed
algorithm, robots can be given the ability to identify different materials by
touch. A specially designed robot even outperformed humans in identifying a
wide range of natural materials according to their textures, in a recent
study by research from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. This
development could pave the way for advancements in prostheses and personal
assistive robots - potentially creating a new class of device altogether.  

Read the entire article and view a video (2:49 ) at:
http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/35962/usc-viterbi-researchers-work-on-a-robots-touch/

Link:
The BioTac - Biomimetic Tactile Sensor
http://www.syntouchllc.com/Products/TheBioTac.php