November 10, 2022A soft robotic microfinger that enables interaction with insects through tactile sensingHumans have always been fascinated by scales different than theirs, from giant objects such as stars, planets and galaxies, to the world of the tiny: insects, bacteria, viruses and other microscopic objects.Against this backdrop, researchers from Ritsumeikan University in Japan have now developed a soft micro-robotic finger that can enable a more direct interaction with the microworld.A soft pneumatic balloon actuator acts as an artificial muscle, allowing control and finger-like movement of the sensor.Using their newly developed microrobot setup, the research team investigated the reaction force of a pill bug as a representative sample of an insect.The reaction force measured from the legs of the pill bug was approximately 10 mN (millinewtons), which agreed with previously estimated values."