Stanford engineers have prototyped and tested a flexible, soft growing robot that can deploy sensor networks for investigation in constrained spaces (see video below). Existing sensors for growing robots have focused on moving with the tip of the robot.
Stanford researchers have developed a technique to interpret contact events between a human and a device equipped with a force sensor. It can detect and classify distinct touch interactions such as tap, touch, grab, and slip.
Stanford researchers at the Okamura Lab have prototyped a new retraction device that can reverse growth of a soft growing robot without undesired buckling.
Stanford engineers at Zhenan Bao's laboratory have designed a compliance sensor which can identify softness (compliance) of touched objects and provide human-like sensation to robots and prosthetics.
Stanford researchers at the Salisbury Lab have prototyped a wearable, articulated robotic device that can be attached to a person at the hip or other location to augment human task productivity. This mechanical "third arm" has many uses such as assisting abled users (e.g.
Researchers in Professor Zhenan Bao's group at Stanford University have developed a biomimetic soft electronic skin (e-skin) with multiple levels of biologically inspired patterning that can detect the direction of applied forces.