A new humanoid robot named Gene.01 just debuted at AMD’s Advancing AI conference in San Francisco, and it’s equipped with a layer of external sensors called a “smart skin” on its arms.
To the touch, the “SmartSkin” felt like a neoprene wetsuit.
The robot is equipped with two types of sensors. First, it is equipped with a touch sensor that can accurately detect not only when the robot is touched, but also where and how much force is applied. As my fingers gripped the rubbery skin, a rendering of the robot on a nearby TV screen lit up in the area I touched, glowing blue and darkening the harder I squeezed. In particular, only the part where I applied pressure with my finger lit up.
It also has a proximity sensor that detects when someone or something is approaching the robot, but not fully touching it. These are called “time-of-flight” or ToF sensors in the robotics industry. They work by sending invisible light into the environment and measuring the time it takes for that light to reflect back to a sensor.
When I brought my hand close to these sensors, a cluster of dots appeared on the screen near the robot, indicating that it was sensing my presence. As I moved my hand away, the blob of dots moved away from the robot on the screen and spread out until they were no longer visible in the background.
Embedded touch and proximity sensors prevent collisions and enable gentler interactions, potentially allowing robots to work more closely with humans. But collecting this kind of sensory data is just one piece of the puzzle.
The real challenge is applying this data to real-time decision making. This is what Generative Bionics, the makers of Gene.01, are working on.
The company considers Gene.01 to be the first step, a robotic platform that serves as a starting point for creating humanoids custom-made for a customer’s specific needs. The amount of “smart skin” a robot has, where it is placed, and what kind of hand or “end effector” it has depends on what tasks you want the robot to do.
Watch the video in this article to see this robot’s “smart skin” in action and an interview with the Generative Bionics CEO.
View detailed history
