Artificial tactile sensing and haptic perception

Abclracl. A critical evaluation of t h e state of t h e art in tactile sensing is presented. Various fields of application such as prosthetic and teleoperation are covered, but particular attention is paid to advanced robotics, where most of t he recent developments have taken place. In addition, tactile sensing modalities are discussed in some detail through reference to basic issues of contact mechanics to provide cluesfor the conception and design of artificial haptic systems capable of surface texture discrimination, stable object grasping, fine-form detection, hardness evaluation and thermal sensing.