Tactile-Embodied Robots for Intelligent Physical Interaction

Abstract

Robots that can touch, feel, and respond intelligently to their physical environment are increasingly central to next-generation applications in healthcare, rehabilitation, and human-robot collaboration. This talk presents research from the Centre for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ) on a new class of tactile-embodied soft robotic systems, compliant, bio-inspired machines that integrate sensing directly into their structure to enable rich, adaptive physical interaction.

Drawing on over a decade of work spanning EU-funded and UKRI-supported projects, the talk covers the design and fabrication of soft fluidically actuated manipulators with tunable stiffness, the development of multi-modal tactile sensing membranes and haptic perception tools, and their deployment in surgical, assistive, and teleoperation contexts. Particular attention is given to the challenge of embedding perception into compliant bodies: how tactile sensing, curvature estimation, and contact localisation can be achieved without sacrificing the softness that makes these robots safe and dexterous. Applications discussed include flexible endoscopic instruments for minimally invasive surgery (STIFF-FLOP, EU project), multi-sensing palpation tools for intraoperative tissue assessment (PALPABLE, EU project), and inflatable, tip-growing robots for in colon diagnostics and therapy (EndoTheranostics, ERC Synergy grant).

Biosketch

Professor Kaspar Althoefer is a leading researcher in soft robotics and intelligent tactile-sensing systems at the Centre for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ), Queen Mary University of London. His work - centred on minimally invasive surgery, assistive technologies, and human–robot interaction - has attracted over £10M (as PI) in competitive funding from national and international bodies.

He has supervised 35 PhD completions and currently leads a team of 10 postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. Together, they collaborate with major European hospitals, research institutes, and international industry partners on projects ranging from soft robots for hard-to-reach environments to novel robot-assisted approaches for diagnosing and treating conditions in the vasculature and the intestinal tract. His group also develops miniaturised stiffness sensors for soft-tissue diagnosis and new solutions for ergonomically optimised human–robot interaction.