Embodied tactile perception of soft objects properties
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Dutta, Anirvan
Devillard, Alexis
Cheng, xiaoxiao
Zhang, zhihua
Burdet, Etienne
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
To enable robots to perform human-like dexterous manipulation, it is essential to understand how mechanical compliance, multi-modal sensing, and purposeful interaction jointly shape tactile perception. In this study, we use a dedicated modular e-Skin with interchangeable mechanical compliance and multi-modal sensing to systematically investigate how sensing embodiment and interaction strategies influence robotic perception of objects. Leveraging a curated set of soft wave objects with controlled viscoelastic and surface properties, we explore a rich set of palpation primitives that vary in indentation depth, frequency, and directionality. In addition, we propose the latent filter, an unsupervised, action-conditioned deep state-space model of the sophisticated interaction dynamics, and infer causal mechanical properties into a structured latent space. This provides in-depth, interpretable representation of how embodiment and interaction determine and influence perception. Our investigation demonstrates that multi-modal sensing outperforms unimodal sensing, emphasizing complex interaction between the environment and the mechanical properties of e-Skin.
Date Issued
2026-02-12
Date Acceptance
2026-01-23
Citation
npj robotics, 2026, 4
ISSN
2731-4278
Publisher
Nature
Journal / Book Title
npj robotics
Volume
4
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1038/s44182-026-00077-0
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 15