Meta claims it is working with sensor firm GelSight and South Korean robotics firm Wonik Robotics to make industrial-scale tactile sensors for AI.

The new sensors aren't for consumers, though. According to Meta, it sees them as "tools that could speed progress toward AI capable of learning more detail about the world around it" and "of better understanding and modeling the physical world."

GelSight will team up with Meta to launch Digit 360, the company describes it as "a tactile fingertip with human-level multimodal sensing capabilities." The next iteration for Meta's Digit sensor Digit 360 digitizes signals coming from touch, harnessing an on-device AI chip and roughly 18 "sensing features" to detect changes in surroundings.

We created a touch-perception-specific optical system with a wide field of view … to capture omnidirectional deformations on the fingertip surface, Meta explained in a blog post. In addition, we fitted the sensor with many sensing modalities since each touch interaction with the environment has a unique profile produced by the mechanical, geometrical, and chemical properties of a surface to perceive vibrations, sense heat, and even smell odor.

Available in the store next year, Meta is also accepting submissions for research proposals, early access.

Meta will be working with Wonik to develop a new generation of its Allegro Hand, which is a robotic hand equipped with tactile sensors. Similar to Digit 360, the upcoming Allegro Hand will feature control boards that encode data from the tactile sensors onto a host computer.
The company said the Allegro Hand would hit the market next year.