A Robot's Touch

In the following arcticle we have the work of Professor Nicola J. Ferrier about his attepts to give robots an artificial sence of touch for contact, force, pressure and other capabilities of living beings. He also discusses the current role of robotics and its limitations:
"Right now robots are really clumsy," Ferrier says. "Eighty to 90 percent of the robots in use do not come into contact with anything. They are spray painters, arc welders and spot welders." And in those cases, Ferrier says the objects worked on by robots have to be placed in the same place every time so that the robot can find the work.

Complete arcticle at: http://www.engr.wisc.edu/alumni/perspective/25.1/robots.html