Contact materials for tactile and visuotactile sensing

The layer your sensor looks through or feels through decides much of what it can measure and how long it lasts. We develop that layer with you, matched to your sensing structure.

Current stageIn validation
Discuss your application

Concept

Tactile & visuotactile contact materials

Material sheets, layered prototypes, project validation.

The render shows the idea, not a product drawing. The structural drawing below separates what NEWMAT supplies (cyan) from the customer’s structure (grey).

Tactile & visuotactile contact materials, concept render

How it fits

Concept illustration: material stack on a customer sensing structure Three blue NEWMAT layers on top of a grey customer sensor module. Contact surface layer Functional elastic layer Interface / bonding layer Customer sensing structurecamera / sensor module
  • NEWMAT materials & parts
  • Customer structure (sensors, electronics, frame)
  1. Contact surface layer — Touches the object; wear and friction behaviour are tuned per task
  2. Functional elastic layer — Deformation, transmission or optical features, per the customer’s sensing principle
  3. Interface / bonding layer — Adhesion and alignment to the customer’s sensor surface
  4. Customer sensing structure — Sensor, optics, electronics and algorithms remain with the customer or their partner.

1Problems this addresses

  • Contact layers wear, tear or pick up contamination too quickly
  • Changing hardness or thickness changes the signal in ways that are hard to predict
  • Optical or marker layers lose clarity or shift over use (visuotactile)
  • The layer peels away from the sensor surface

2What we deliver

Material sheets
Candidate materials in sheet form for your own bench comparison.
Layered prototypes
Stacks built to your dimensions, combining surface, functional and bonding layers.
Project validation
Agreed test items run on samples, with results shared to steer the next iteration.

Each project agrees the specifications, test reports and integration information that come with the deliverables.

3What we need from you

  • Sensing principle and where the material sits in the stack
  • Sensor dimensions, mounting surface and allowable thickness
  • Typical objects, forces and contact conditions
  • Optical requirements, if any (transparency, markers, reflectivity)
  • How you currently judge whether a layer is good enough

For a first conversation a written description is enough. No CAD or confidential files needed.

4How we validate

Test items we can discuss. Conditions, methods and pass criteria are set with you for each project; we do not quote general performance figures.

  • Hardness and thickness options against your signal response
  • Wear and abrasion under contact conditions you define
  • Adhesion between layers and to the sensor surface
  • Optical stability for visuotactile stacks
  • Ageing and environmental exposure relevant to your use

5Current stage

Current stageIn validation

Material work in this area is being validated in projects. Results so far are project-specific, so we discuss them case by case rather than publish general specifications.

How the contact layer makes touch readable

How a visuotactile contact layer works An object presses on a multilayer elastomer. Markers inside the layer shift as it deforms; a separate camera behind the material reads the shift optically. Calibration and algorithms on the customer side then judge the contact state. CONTACTMATERIAL / OPTICS Marker shiftSeparate camera customer
  1. 01Contact
  2. 02Elastomer deforms
  3. 03Optical read-out
  • NEWMAT materials & parts
  • Customer structure (sensors, electronics, frame)

NEWMAT develops the multilayer contact material (blue). Camera, calibration, algorithms and grip control stay with the customer or their partners (grey).

Public application examples

sudo R1 robot, official product image from sudo
sudo R1 · official product image (sudo)

sudoNEWMAT

Our robotics collaboration started with sudo

First jointly developed product has moved into mass-production deployment

Visuotactile material module and gripper contact-surface project

  • Joint development
  • Material & process validation
  • Mass-production introduction

Commercial validation: paid R&D → joint product, from sample validation to mass-production introduction. This describes the sudo project only; it does not change the stage of our capability areas as a whole.

AI illustration of a robot gripper with soft tactile fingertips following a cable to plug it into a socket
Flexible manipulation · research validation

Flexible manipulation: cable following and plugging

Following a soft cable by touch and aligning the plug with the socket

Needs: slip sensing · grip-force and pose adjustment

This scenario illustrates needs that appear once robots work in real environments. It is not a NEWMAT customer project; the image is an AI illustration, not photos of a real robot or site.

Discuss your application

Describe the task and the problem you are seeing. If confidential technical material needs to be exchanged, we can agree on an NDA first.

Discuss your application

Other capability areas