Robots that can feel as well as humans may soon be able to perform tasks impossible today, such as feel the thread engage when putting in a screw, was demonstrated by piezo-electric materials experts at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) who claim that all sorts of touch-enabled applications should be enabled by their new 'electronic skin': R. Colin Johnson @NextGenLog
Professor Zhong Lin Wang at Georgia Tech shows his sensor material that converts mechanical pressure directly into an optical image.
Pressure activates arrays nanowire-LED sensors (A) to enable any touch (B) to turn on zinc-oxide LEDs (bottom) that can be sensed with photodiodes to recognize drawn characters. 
