--- title: 3D-Printed Skin Gives Robots The Sensation Of Touch description: Researchers Haofeng Chen and colleagues published a method for creating artificial robotic skin capable of sensing touch using electrical impedance tomography... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/3d-printed-skin-gives-robots-the-sensation-of-touch-gkyq1tcff twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 3D-Printed Skin Gives Robots The Sensation Of Touch | daily.dev og:description: Researchers Haofeng Chen and colleagues published a method for creating artificial robotic skin capable of sensing touch using electrical impedance tomography... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/3d-printed-skin-gives-robots-the-sensation-of-touch-gkyq1tcff og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/gKYQ1TCff.png og:image:alt: 3D-Printed Skin Gives Robots The Sensation Of Touch og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 3D-Printed Skin Gives Robots The Sensation Of Touch **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Researchers Haofeng Chen and colleagues published a method for creating artificial robotic skin capable of sensing touch using electrical impedance tomography (EIT). Instead of embedding many individual sensors, the design uses a flexible TPU layer with electrodes and conductive fabric patches, where touch disturbs measured resistivity values that EIT then reconstructs into a location and pressure map. Prototypes achieved fairly accurate pressure sensing with just 16 electrodes, making the hardware relatively simple, though characterizing TPU porosity and implementing the EIT algorithm remain the main challenges for hobbyists to replicate. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does electrical impedance tomography work for sensing touch in artificial robot skin? Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) uses surface electrodes on a flexible TPU layer to continuously measure electrical resistivity across conductive fabric patches attached to a top cover layer. When a touch event occurs, it disturbs the measured resistivity values, and EIT reconstructs the location and strength of that touch from the pattern of disturbances, avoiding the need for many individually wired sensors. _Robotics engineers exploring touch-sensing designs can follow research like this through daily.dev._ ### How many electrodes are needed to create an accurate touch pressure map on artificial skin using EIT? Only 16 electrodes were sufficient to produce a fairly accurate pressure map in prototype testing of EIT-based artificial skin. This makes the hardware setup relatively simple compared to approaches requiring dense arrays of individually wired sensors, though replicating the TPU porosity characterization and EIT algorithm remains challenging for hobbyists. _Anyone prototyping low-sensor-count touch systems can track hardware research like this via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Researchers make “neuromorphic” artificial skin for robots](https://daily.dev/posts/researchers-make-neuromorphic-artificial-skin-for-robots-o0ilwcrov) · Ars Technica · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Graphene-based sensor to improve robot touch](https://daily.dev/posts/graphene-based-sensor-to-improve-robot-touch-wtfufxdde) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Robots Are Learning to Feel](https://daily.dev/posts/robots-are-learning-to-feel-tbglx0bli) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The science of human touch – and why it’s so hard to replicate in robots](https://daily.dev/posts/the-science-of-human-touch-and-why-it-s-so-hard-to-replicate-in-robots-udhxgivij) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [XELA Robotics Introduces Advanced uSkin Tactile Sensors](https://daily.dev/posts/xela-robotics-introduces-advanced-uskin-tactile-sensors-lfudxv65l) · Embedded.com · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#science](https://daily.dev/tags/science), [#robotics](https://daily.dev/tags/robotics), [#sensors](https://daily.dev/tags/sensors) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/3d-printed-skin-gives-robots-the-sensation-of-touch-gkyq1tcff) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"3D-Printed Skin Gives Robots The Sensation Of Touch","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/3d-printed-skin-gives-robots-the-sensation-of-touch-gkyq1tcff","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/3d-printed-skin-gives-robots-the-sensation-of-touch-gkyq1tcff"},"datePublished":"2026-08-25T02:24:27.910Z","dateModified":"2026-08-25T02:24:49.997Z","description":"Researchers Haofeng Chen and colleagues published a method for creating artificial robotic skin capable of sensing touch using electrical impedance tomography...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/21bcb7191a61a9819683e0ac4ab37032?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/21bcb7191a61a9819683e0ac4ab37032?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/3d-printed-skin-gives-robots-the-sensation-of-touch-gkyq1tcff","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"science,robotics,sensors","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"3D-Printed Skin Gives Robots The Sensation Of Touch"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/3d-printed-skin-gives-robots-the-sensation-of-touch-gkyq1tcff#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does electrical impedance tomography work for sensing touch in artificial robot skin?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) uses surface electrodes on a flexible TPU layer to continuously measure electrical resistivity across conductive fabric patches attached to a top cover layer. When a touch event occurs, it disturbs the measured resistivity values, and EIT reconstructs the location and strength of that touch from the pattern of disturbances, avoiding the need for many individually wired sensors. Robotics engineers exploring touch-sensing designs can follow research like this through daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How many electrodes are needed to create an accurate touch pressure map on artificial skin using EIT?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Only 16 electrodes were sufficient to produce a fairly accurate pressure map in prototype testing of EIT-based artificial skin. This makes the hardware setup relatively simple compared to approaches requiring dense arrays of individually wired sensors, though replicating the TPU porosity characterization and EIT algorithm remains challenging for hobbyists. Anyone prototyping low-sensor-count touch systems can track hardware research like this via daily.dev."}}]} ```