Rice grain-sized sensor could give robots a delicate touch and keep them from breaking stuff

Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University built a 1.7-millimeter optical force sensor for robots that can measure pressure, sliding, and twisting from all directions.

The rice-sized device uses light and machine learning to improve tactile feedback for robotic and surgical tools.

In tests, it detected stiffness changes in gelatin and identified a hidden hard sphere, showing potential for finding tumor-like objects.

The system is still a prototype and will need more engineering, scaling, and medical validation before hospital use.