Scottish Startup Brings Robotic Skin Sensors to Understaffed Hospitals
Touchlab is piloting its ultra-thin robotic skin in hospital settings to enable remote patient care through teleoperated robots. The technology allows human operators to feel pressure and 3D forces via haptic suits.
Scottish startup Touchlab is bringing its innovative robotic skin technology into hospital settings to address critical staffing shortages. The company develops an ultra-thin electronic skin that provides robots with precise position, pressure, and 3D force data at the point of contact. This advanced tactile sensing allows machines to perform delicate tasks that require a nuanced sense of touch, closely replicating human capabilities.
The hospital pilot program utilizes a TIAGo++ robot equipped with Touchlab's sensors to act as an extra pair of hands for medical workers. A remote operator controls this robot while wearing a haptic VR bodysuit and gloves that translate the physical touch data back to the user. This teleoperation approach enables healthcare professionals to interact with patients and handle objects safely from a distance, earning Touchlab a finalist spot in the $10 million XPrize Avatar Competition.
Despite the groundbreaking nature of the technology, Touchlab currently faces a data transmission bottleneck between the robot's skin and the human operator's haptic interface. The robotic skin gathers significantly more tactile information than the remote suit can process and feed back to the user at this stage. The company continues to refine its software layer to bridge this gap and unlock the full potential of robotic dexterity in real-world medical environments.