The SCRATCHbot robot has been demonstrated at an international workshop looking at how robots can help us examine the workings of the brain. 

Researchers from the Bristol Robotics Lab, (a partnership between the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol) and the University of Sheffield have developed the SCRATCHbot, which is a significant milestone in the pan-european ICEA project to develop biologically-inspired artificial intelligence systems.

Dr Tony Pipe said: “For a long time, vision has been the biological sensory modality most studied by scientists. But active touch sensing is a key focus for those of us looking at biological systems which have implications for robotics research. Sensory systems such as rats’ whiskers have some particular advantages in this area. In humans, for example, where sensors are at the fingertips, they are more vulnerable to damage and injury than whiskers. Rats have the ability to operate with damaged whiskers and in theory broken whiskers on robots could be easily replaced, without affecting the whole robot and its expensive engineering.”

The new technology has the potential for a number of further applications from using robots underground, under the sea, or in extremely dusty conditions, where vision is often seriously compromised. The technology could also be used for tactile inspection of surfaces, such as materials in the textile industry, or closer to home in domestic products, for example vacuum cleaners that could sense textures for optimal cleaning.