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New Artificial Skin For Robots Allows Them To Feel Things
A groundbreaking new development from a Caltech researcher means that robots will soon be able to “feel” their surroundings, with sensations relayed back to human operators.
Caltech assistant professor of medical engineering, Wei Gao, has developed a new platform for robots and their operators known as M-Bot. When it hits the mainstream, the technology will allow humans to control robots more precisely and help protect them in hostile environments.
The platform is based around an artificial skin that effectively gives robots a sense of touch. The newly developed tool also uses machine learning and forearm sensors to allow human users to control robots with their own movements while receiving delicate haptic feedback through their skin.
The synthetic skin is composed of a gelatinous hydrogel and makes robot fingertips function much like our own. Inside the gel, layers of tiny micrometer sensors — applied similarly to Inkjet printing — detect and report touch through very gentle electrical stimulation. For example, if a robotic hand picked up an egg too firmly, the artificial skin sensors would give feedback to the human operator on the sensation of the shell being crushed.
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Wei Gao and his Caltech team hope the system will eventually find applications in everything from agriculture and environmental protection to security. The developers also note that robot operators will be able to “feel” their surroundings, including sensing how much fertilizer or pesticide is being applied to crops or whether suspicious bags contain traces of explosives.
Abdulmotaleb El Saddik, Professor of Computer Vision at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, has noted that the new development offers even more applications and possibilities: “The ability to physically feel the touch, including handshakes and shoulder patting, could contribute to creating a sense of connection and empathy, enhancing the quality of interactions, particularly for the elderly and people living at a distance or those who are in space [such as] astronauts connecting with their family and children”.
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Noon And Yango Switch On Robot Deliveries In Dubai
The rollout folds autonomous couriers into noon’s rapid-delivery network as the UAE tests everyday autonomy.
Noon and Yango Group have signed an agreement to put autonomous robot deliveries into commercial use in Dubai, turning Yango’s earlier pilots into a daily service for noon Minutes orders. The launch in Sobha Hartland is the first full integration of Yango Autonomy’s electric robots with a major e-commerce network in the region, with wider deployment planned across Dubai and, later, other GCC markets.
Residents can choose a robot at checkout, track it in the app and unlock its compartment once it arrives. The hardware runs on Yango’s AI navigation and routing stack, which plans paths, avoids obstacles and yields to pedestrians. The units had already covered more than 1,500 kilometers during previous Dubai pilots, a test bed that demonstrated their ability to operate in mixed pedestrian environments and dense residential streets.
The rollout adds a contactless option to noon’s last-mile network and is positioned as extra capacity during peak periods. “Partnering with Yango Group lets us bring a future-ready delivery option straight to our customers,” said Ali Kafil-Hussain, noon’s Chief Business Officer. Noon has used Minutes to set rapid-delivery expectations in UAE cities; autonomous units now slot into that same high-frequency model.
Regulatory clearance from Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority underpins the move. The RTA authorized Yango’s robots to operate on public walkways and in neighborhoods, smoothing the shift from controlled trials to commercial work. Dubai has framed autonomous mobility as part of its smart-city buildout, and the partners lean on that agenda to accelerate integration.
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For Yango, the partnership is an anchor for its autonomy platform in the Gulf. Islam Abdul Karim, Yango’s Middle East regional head, said the aim is to make autonomous delivery an “everyday, reliable service” for UAE communities. The company views operational data from early districts as the basis for scaling into more communities and, eventually, cross-border rollouts.
The move lands as Gulf retailers search for faster fulfilment and lower-emission logistics. Autonomous couriers remain a small share of last-mile delivery, but Dubai’s approvals and early usage data give the partners a clearer path to turn pilots into durable infrastructure.
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