Workshop "Beyond Vision: Teaching Robots to Feel and Imagine Touch"

Abstract

A robot can see an egg but can it tell how gently to hold it? Can it sense a slipping object hidden from its cameras? And could it learn from touch without needing tactile sensors every time it acts? This workshop explores how a sense of touch can help robots interact with the world with greater care and dexterity.

Through an overview of the field and talks on recent research, we’ll explore:

• A sense of touch for robots: today’s tactile sensors and the challenges still waiting to be solved.
• Making sense of electronic skin: how robots can turn contact signals into an understanding of what they hold.
• Learning from touch, acting without it: how tactile experience can guide gentler manipulation even without tactile sensors.
• Imagining contact before it happens: how anticipating touch could help robots handle fragile objects more reliably.

From maintaining a secure grasp to handling delicate food, the workshop asks what becomes possible when robots learn not just how the world looks, but how it feels.