Engineers Integrate Internal Robotic Tactile Sensors
From: Wireless Design Magazine - 12/12/2016

A Cornell group has devised a way for a soft robot to feel its surroundings
internally, in much the same way humans do.

A group led by Robert Shepherd, assistant professor of mechanical and
aerospace engineering and principal investigator of Organic Robotics Lab, has
published a paper describing how stretchable optical waveguides act as
curvature, elongation and force sensors in a soft robotic hand.

The more the prosthetic hand deforms, the more light is lost through the
optical waveguide core. That variable loss of light, as detected by the
photodiode, is what allows the prosthesis to "sense" its surroundings.

Shepherd said. "The amount of loss is dependent on how the prostheis is bent."

The group used its optoelectronic prosthesis to perform a variety of tasks,
including grasping and probing for both shape and texture.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2016/12/engineers-integrate-internal-robotic-tactile-sensors
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2016/12/engineers-integrate-internal-robotic-tactile-sensors

Links:
Organic Robotics Lab
https://orl.mae.cornell.edu

Robert Shepherd
http://www.mae.cornell.edu/people/profile.cfm?netid=rfs247

Orthotic hand with optical curvature sensors (with video 0:39)
https://orl.mae.cornell.edu/sensing.html

Optoelectronically innervated soft prosthetic hand via stretchable optical
  waveguides
http://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/eaai7529

Robotic Hand from Cornell May Advance Prosthetics (with video 0:29)
https://www.pddnet.com/news/2016/12/robotic-hand-cornell-may-advance-prosthetics

New Robot Has a Human Touch
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2016/12/new-robot-has-human-touch