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Touch was the missing sense in robotics But FlexiTac is here to change that. An open-source, low-cost, scalable tactile sensor that’s: • ~3 min to fabricate • ~$2.5 per unit • Real-time + ML-ready This is what making hardware actually accessible looks like.

Robots Digest 🤖

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12,982 views • 3 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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Open-source magnetic tactile sensor for $5! 🧲 Researchers introduced a magnetic tactile sensor that's low-cost, and easy to fabricate, democratizing tactile sensing for robotics. Operating in unstructured environments like homes and offices requires robots to sense forces during physical interaction. Yet the lack of a versatile, accessible tactile sensor has led to fragmented solutions and often force-unaware, sensorless approaches. Building an eFlesh sensor requires four components: a hobbyist 3D printer, off-the-shelf magnets (less than $5), a CAD model, and a magnetometer circuit board. The sensor is 3D printed with magnets embedded in the middle layer. Based on chosen mechanical properties, magnets displace in response to contact forces, measured by a magnetometer underneath. An open-source design tool converts simple OBJ/STL files into 3D-printable STLs. This enables application-specific sensors for robot hands, grippers, quadruped feet, and more. Slip detection generalizes to unseen objects with 95% accuracy. Visual-tactile control policies improve manipulation by 40% over vision-only baselines, achieving 90% success on precise tasks like plug insertion and credit card swiping. All design files, code, trained models, and conversion tools are openly available. Project page: ~~ ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news →

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