Robots are becoming a bigger part of our everyday lives. They help in hospitals, factories, farms, and even in homes.
But for robots to work safely around people, they need more than just speed and power.
They also need to be able to sense what is happening around them and react before accidents happen.
Traditional sensors often can’t do this well, especially when it comes to covering large areas or working in real time.
To solve this problem, a team of researchers from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), led by Professor Van Anh Ho and Dr. Quan Khanh Luu, has created a new kind of robotic skin called ProTac.
Their work, published in IEEE Transactions on Robotics in July 2025, shows how this skin could help robots become safer and smarter in how they move and interact with the world.
The secret behind ProTac is a special layer made from a material called polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC). This material can switch between being see-through and being cloudy when electricity is applied.
When it is transparent, cameras hidden under the skin can “look out” and detect objects nearby. When it is opaque, those same cameras can watch how the skin bends or stretches when touched.
This means the robot can both “see” objects before they make contact and “feel” pressure and touch once contact happens—all with the same simple soft layer. Unlike traditional sensors that need complicated electronics, ProTac combines vision and touch in one system.
To test their invention, the team built a prototype called the ProTac link. It looks like a soft, padded cylinder with cameras at each end, acting as a piece of a robot’s arm.
This prototype can notice when objects are getting close, measure distances, and detect touches from different directions.
It even knows where and how strongly it has been pressed. The robot can then respond by slowing down, avoiding obstacles, or adjusting how it moves when it makes contact with people or objects.
For example, in factories, a robot arm with ProTac skin could automatically stop if a worker gets too close. In elder care, service robots could help older adults stand up or move safely, adjusting their grip based on touch feedback.
Because the system is soft, it is also gentle, making it useful for handling delicate objects like fruit or medical tools. In the long run, the researchers believe this technology could lead to humanoid robots with full-body “skins” that allow them to move and interact almost like humans.
The team also developed software that translates the sensor data into actions, so the robots can make quick, independent decisions in changing environments.
Importantly, they made their designs and software open source, so other scientists and engineers can use and improve them. Their goal is to speed up progress toward robots that are both capable and safe.
By keeping the design simple but powerful, ProTac shows how robots can get closer to understanding the complex, touch-filled world we live in. Instead of just machines that move, they are becoming partners that can see, feel, and react—before danger strikes.
