Comfortable robotic microfinger permits people to immediately work together with bugs

Human-robot interaction technology has helped improve the sociality of humanoid robots. On scales far removed from human scales, a microrobot can interact with an environment in a small world. Microsensors have been used to measure the forces insects exert during activities such as flying or walking. Meanwhile, most previous work has focused on measuring insect behavior rather than the direct interaction between insects and microsensors.

Now researchers at Japan’s Ritsumeikan University have developed a soft micro-robot finger that allows humans to interact directly with insects. This could enable human-environment interaction on a scale not previously accessible.

The flat rectangular devices are 12 mm long, 3 mm wide and 490 μm (microns) thick. These soft microfingers, integrated with artificial muscle actuators and tactile sensors, can move and touch an insect.

Using their newly developed micro-robot setup, the research team studied the reaction force of a pill bug as a representative sample of an insect. The pill beetle was fixed with a suction tool, and the micro finger was used to apply a force and measure the reaction force of the beetle’s legs.

Active tactile sensing of small insect force by a soft microfinger for microfinger-insect interactions. Source: Adapted from Scientific Reports 2022, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-21188-2

The measured reaction force from the legs of a pill bug was less than 10 mN (millinewtons), which was consistent with previously estimated values. This result is promising for realizing direct human interactions with the microworld.

The new technology can even find application in augmented reality (AR) technology. With robotized gloves and microsensory tools such as the microfinger, many AR technologies for human-environment interaction can be realized on a microscale.

“Using our strain-sensitive microfinger, we were able to directly measure the pushing movement and force of a pill beetle’s legs and torso – something that was previously not possible! We anticipate that our findings will lead to further technological development for microfinger-insect interactions, leading to much smaller-scale human-environment interactions,” notes Professor Satoshi Konishi, lead author of the study.

Magazine reference:

1. Satoshi Konishi, Fuminari Mori, Yugo Kakehi, Ayano Shimizu, Fumiya Sano and Kodai Koyanagi, Active tactile sensing of small insect force by a soft microfinger towards microfinger-insect interactions, Scientific Reports 12, 16963 (2022), DOI: 10.1038/s41598 – 022-21188-2