KiriSense | Tactile intelligence for robotics
Giving Robots a Sense of Touch
Tactile intelligence engineered through geometry.
KiriSense Ltd develops geometry-encoded robotic tactile sensing for robot fingertips and manipulation, using kirigami structures that mechanically encode information about physical contact.
Architecture difference
Illustrative common approaches
KiriSense
Development status
Complete
Complete
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TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
See KiriSense in action
Vision tells a robot what is there. Touch tells it what happens when it makes contact.
See how KiriSense uses mechanically encoded tactile sensing to turn force and movement into compact information for robotic control.
Video transcript
Robots can already see the world. But seeing an object is not the same as knowing how to handle it. For that, robots need touch.
KiriSense uses proprietary kirigami geometry to mechanically encode force at the point of contact. The technology is protected by a growing portfolio of UK patent applications.
Normal force produces one optical signature. Shear and lateral movement produce another. Early proof-of-concept testing of KiriSense’s technology through its research collaboration with the University of Sheffield has already demonstrated distinct, reversible responses to different types of force.
Because the geometry performs the mechanical encoding, KiriSense can turn touch into a compact tactile signal without a camera or image stream. That means low latency, low data and a lower-cost sensing architecture.
The opportunity spans food handling, logistics, flexible materials and high-throughput automation.
As robots move into the physical world, touch becomes essential.
KiriSense is giving robots a sense of touch.
Proof of concept achieved
Experimental evidence for a geometry-first sensing principle
KiriSense’s kirigami structures have now been tested through its research collaboration with the University of Sheffield, demonstrating deformation-dependent, spatially asymmetric optical responses. Normal force and shear produce visibly different signatures, with shear creating a more asymmetric response.
Why KiriSense is different
A different sensing architecture
Geometry first
Mechanical response carries information
Useful tactile information is encoded in the mechanical response of the structure itself.
Material flexible
Designed around the application
The architecture is not intrinsically tied to a single specialist sensing material, allowing materials to be selected around the requirements of different robotic applications.
Designed to scale
A route towards standardisation
A repeatable geometric architecture and simple optical readout provide a potential route towards standardised, low-cost manufacture.
Low-data architecture
Designed for useful local information
KiriSense is designed to extract useful tactile information locally rather than depend on high-resolution image streams.
From industrial robots to humanoids
Applications
Local feedback where it matters
Tactile sensing can support manipulation where objects vary in shape, surface and behaviour.
Robotic hands and grippers
Contact intelligence at the point of interaction
KiriSense is developing tactile sensing for robotic hands, grippers and end-effectors.
Understand robotic touch
Explore the geometry-encoded tactile sensing technology, what touch adds to robot vision and normal force, shear and slip. KiriSense’s origin and its founders and research collaborators explain who is behind the work.