Bonus Episode: Giving robots the power of human touch
Vladimir Ivan, Vice President of Robotics at Touchlab, explains how his company develops e-skins to give robots the sense of touch, moving beyond visual-only perception. He details their new product, Tacto, a generalizable tactile fingertip with 16 sensing elements that detects pressure, vibration, and texture to enable dexterous manipulation in healthcare and manufacturing. Ivan discusses the engineering trade-offs between material robustness and sensitivity, highlighting the sensor's ability to withstand abuse while maintaining high-resolution data for AI-driven robot control.