Tactile Telerobot is a pair of robotic arms with hands, operated with gloves. The gloves have built-in sensors, and when you move the gloves in space, the Telerobot mimics your movements. Similarly, when you move your fingers, the robot's fingers do the same.
The tips of the robot fingers have pressure, vibration, and heat sensors; when you grip something, the pressure is translated to the tactile sensors in the glove. For example, when you pick up an object with Telerobot, you can feel the pressure of that object on your fingertips. This is surprisingly sensitive, with 130 points of feedback on the glove, accurate enough that I was able to gently grasp a plastic cup without crushing it at all.
The Tactile Telerobot is the product of Converge Robotics Group, a consortium of three companies: Shadow Robot Company provided the robotic hand, Haptx provided the tactile glove, and Tangible Research helped coordinate the two products. Tangible Research helped link the two products. Universal Robotics built the arm, and Thintouch developed the tactile sensors for the robot hand.
They are also surprisingly intuitive to use. Within minutes of putting on the gloves, I was able to remove cups from a stack of cups, arrange them in a pyramid, and gently place a ball on top of the pyramid. The arm moved as fast or as slow as I moved, and there was very little waiting time. The robot's hands were as dexterous as those at the end of my arm.
A company representative explained that the tactile Telerobot (they need to come up with a better name, IMO) is intended for use in industrial, clinical, or other situations where direct human contact is impossible but requires a very high degree of precision. Telerobot can be connected to a controller, as I used, or it can be controlled remotely via the Internet.
I was impressed by the ease of use and fun of the Tactile Telerobot, and now I just need to make a personalized version. Now I just need to make a personalized version.
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