Overview
Field: Robotics Authors: Binghao Huang, Yunzhu Li Published: 2026-04-30 arXiv: 2604.28156
Abstract (full translation)
We present FlexiTac, a low-cost, open-source, and scalable piezoresistive tactile sensing solution designed for robotic end-effectors. FlexiTac is a practical plug-in module consisting of (i) thin, flexible tactile sensor pads that provide dense tactile signals and (ii) a compact multi-channel readout board that streams synchronized measurements for real-time control and large-scale data collection.
FlexiTac pads adopt a sealed three-layer laminate stack (FPC-Velostat-FPC) with electrode patterns directly integrated into flexible printed circuits, significantly improving manufacturing throughput and repeatability while maintaining mechanical compliance, making them deployable on both rigid and soft grippers. The readout electronics use widely available, low-cost components and stream tactile signals to the host at 100 Hz over serial communication. FlexiTac can be mounted on different platforms across multiple configurations without major mechanical redesign.
The authors demonstrate that FlexiTac supports modern tactile learning pipelines, including:
- 3D visuo-tactile fusion for contact-aware decision making
- Cross-embodiment skill transfer
- Real-to-sim-to-real finetuning leveraging GPU-parallel tactile simulation
- arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.28156