Jeremy Fishel of SynTouch Inc. presents “The Future of Machine Touch” as a special seminar hosted by the Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech. The event will be held in the Whitaker (BME) Building, Room 3115 from 3.00-4.00 p.m. and is open to the public. 

Abstract

As robots are increasingly expected to replicate and replace human behavior, they must increasingly behave like humans. This includes replicating the sense of touch. We have developed the BioTac, the world's first compliant tactile sensor that is capable of sensing the full range of forces, vibrations and temperatures the human fingertip can perceive. Its design incorporates fingerprints, a fingernail and heat generation, all of which have been shown to improve the sensitivity and functionality of the device. However, such a biomimetic sensor is just the admission price to a much more difficult set of challenges in developing intelligent reflexes to control movement in response to touch (perception for action) and useful exploratory movements to elicit tactile sensations to effectively identify objects by touch (action for perception). In this talk we discuss current and future applications of such a technology including characterizing how objects feel in a way that relates to human perception, using this information to drive novel tactile displays, reflexes that enable fragile grasping, and next-generation applications in telerobotic systems.

Bio

Jeremy Fishel is a co-founder and the chief technology officer at SynTouch, which manufactures biomimetic tactile sensors and provides tactile sensing solutions for quantifying the perception of touch and improving the dexterity of robotic and prosthetic hands.

He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (‘05) from California State University Long Beach, two M.S. degrees (Biomedical Engineering in ’07; Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in ’09) from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. from the Biomedical Engineering Department at USC (’12) for his work on fluid-based tactile vibration sensing and the development of Bayesian exploration.

Fishel has been recognized by Popular Mechanics as one of the 2013 Innovators of the year and was accepted as a delegate of the Academy of Achievement in 2014, under the personal recommendation of General David Petraeus. Under his leadership, SynTouch has been recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, an RBR50 company by the Robotics Business Review, and has received numerous awards for the company’s biomimetic tactile sensor (the BioTac®), which mimics the sensory capabilities of the human fingertip.

Fishel’s professional interests are in pioneering applications in tactile perception and robotic dexterity using SynTouch’s core technology.