SonicBoom, allows autonomous robots to use sound to sense the objects it touches. The approach, which can accurately localize or feel the objects it encounters with centimeter-level precision. The system involves an array of contact microphones, which detect physical touch as sound signals that propagate through solid materials.
When a robotic arm touches a branch, the resulting sound waves travel down the robotic arm until they encounter the array of contact microphones. Tiny differences in sound-wave properties such as signal intensity and phase across the array of microphones are used to localize where the sound originated, and thus the point of contact.
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