Meta creates robot that feels touch like human
Meta is bringing us closer to robots that can feel (collage: RBC-Ukraine)
Meta is making a significant advancement in the field of embodied AI, enabling robots to experience and perceive their surroundings, reports the technology news site TechCrunch.
What is known about the new development
Meta claims that the new devices are designed to advance research in artificial intelligence that can better perceive the world and better understand and model the physical world.
GelSight will collaborate with Meta to launch Digit 360, which Meta describes as a tactile fingertip with human-level multimodal sensing capabilities. A successor to Meta's original Digit sensor, Digit 360 digitizes tactile signals using an embedded AI chip and approximately 18 sensory functions to detect changes in the environment.
"We developed a touch-perception-specific optical system with a wide field of view … for capturing omnidirectional deformations on the fingertip surface," Meta explained in its blog.
Additionally, the company has equipped the sensor with a multitude of sensing modalities, as each tactile interaction with the environment has a unique profile created by the mechanical, geometric, and chemical properties of surfaces for detecting vibrations, heat, and even smells.
Digit 360 will be available for purchase next year, and Meta has announced an application process that will allow researchers to gain early access.
Meta's collaboration with Wonik will focus on the new generation of the Allegro Hand, a robotic arm featuring tactile sensors like Digit 360. Built on a platform developed by Meta for integrating sensors into a single robotic arm, the upcoming Allegro Hand will be equipped with control boards that encode data from the tactile sensors to a host computer.
Also, for the first time in the world, a robotic dog has successfully completed its trials underwater.
