Touchlab is a fast-paced startup with a youthful culture and big ambitions. We want to give machines a human sense of touch. More specifically, Touchlab specializes in the fabrication of an electronic skin (e-skin) system called eDermis®.

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Currently robots struggle with the handling of delicate objects or feeling their environment through other parts of the body, as they lack sensors that would allow them to properly control their movements. eDermis® mimics human skin in that it is fully compliant and can be bent and wrapped around any surface (including soft ones) without affecting its pressure-sensitivity. It can sense both the location as well as the true pressure applied to its surface with minimal wiring. All of the layers comprising our device are integrated into a single conformable skin that is comparable in thickness to that of a human hair. eDermis® is sensitive-enough to detect stroking, slippage, even a human's breath, and because it reacts proportionally to pressure, it can be said to give robots a sense of ‘pain’. Simply put, it is a game-changer for the robotics industry, solving one of the Grand Challenges the field has faced for decades. 

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Our mission is to help machines solve other challenges too, which have so far largely been limited to fiction: teleoperated avatars, taking care of elderly in ageing populations, working in environments too extreme for humans (e.g. space, underwater, radioactive), and helping to ensure the growing £7.7b+ people on the planet can enjoy food security and improved quality of life. In order to accomplish these goals, we form partnerships with leading experts/companies and (simply put) identify and solve their real-world problems.

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