Haptic robots show why touch remains one of the hardest problems in robotics

(1 Jul 2026) ASSOCIATED PRESS London - 30 June 2026 1. Various of robotic arm with a hand fitted with tactile sensors rising and forming a thumbs up gesture at the University of Oxford's stand at Royal Society's Summer Science exhibition 2. Various of robotic hand fitted with tactile sensors clasping to hold and drop a model plastic banana 3. Mid of sign reading 'Robots operating in this area. Proceed with caution' 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ingmar Posner, Professor of applied AI at University of Oxford: ++AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING++ "Over the past few years we've seen a real progress in robotics and what robots are able to do and it's tantalising, the science is definitely progressing and we've all seen the videos of humanoids doing martial arts and running marathons and so what we wanted to do here is bring some of the science that has enabled that progress out of the lab and into close contact with the public and at the same time also highlight that there are some things that still remain very, very challenging for robots, and some of those are things that we wouldn't expect, like, for example, doing basic manipulation, basic assembly, and disassembly tasks." 5. Various of bimanual robot lifting and repositioning model cube boxes on table 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ingmar Posner, Professor of applied AI at University of Oxford: ++AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING++ "We have a bimanual robot performing a manipulation task that is really geared towards stimulating conversations around how does the robot perceive the world, how does it plan, how does then actually act. One of the challenges that we have with manipulation is actually a sense of touch, getting the tactile feedback that allows us to pick things out of our pocket." 7. Mid of robotic hand equipped with tactile sensors as robotic arm moves in background 8. Various of robotic arm with a hand fitted with tactile sensors shaking hand of University of Oxford researcher 9. Various of University of Oxford researcher applying pressure at different points on tactile hand sensors as computer screen displays which precise points have pressure detected 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ingmar Posner, Professor of applied AI at University of Oxford: ++AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING++ "People think that AI is a thing that is added on at the end of robotics. Actually, many things that we think about when we think about AI are actually enabled by having agency in the world, by being able to act and interact in the real world. And so this is really very much what robotics is. So robotics allows us to pose questions around safety, around reliability, around being able to predict things with the absolute necessity to not go wrong, that AI works in other domains like language modelling and so on doesn't really give us. That said, the progress that we've seen in large language models and everything that we see every day massively accelerates what we're able to do in giving robots a sense of contextual intelligence." 11. Various of University of Oxford researcher playing a game using hand controls to pile virtual boxes on top of each other as it simulates a bimanual robot and demonstrates teleoperation STORYLINE: LEADIN: Researchers from the University of Oxford are using a robotic hand fitted with tactile sensors to show why touch remains one of the hardest problems in robotics. The exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London explores how machines sense pressure, grip objects and respond to contact as scientists try to make robots more capable in the physical world. STORYLINE: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...