Robot rat to lead the way in touch technology

An example of what the "robot rat " will look like. Click here for more information.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield are using the animal kingdom to help develop sophisticated touch technology for use in intelligent machines, such as robots. The new £5.9M BIOTACT project will bring together nine research groups from seven countries to develop innovative artificial touch technologies, including a "whiskered" robot.

This new technology could have a number of possible applications in modern day society from search and rescue robots that could pick their way through rubble and debris to mine-clearing machines to planetary rovers in space. The technology could also be used closer to home in domestic products, for example vacuum cleaners that could sense textures for optimal cleaning.

While vision supplies information about distant objects, touch is invaluable in sensing the nearby environment. However, in designing intelligent, life-like machines, the use of touch has been largely overlooked, until now.

One of the first whiskered robots to be designed and built as part of the project Click here for more information.

Led by Professor Tony Prescott of the University´s Department of Psychology, the team will develop new technologies inspired by the use of touch in the animal kingdom. In nocturnal creatures, or those that inhabit poorly-lit places, this physical sense is widely preferred to vision as a primary means of discovering the world.