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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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This New Wearable Robot Technology Lets Robots Feel Like Humans

Human touch is one of the most powerful ways we understand the world around us. When we hold an object, our brain instantly recognizes its size, shape, softness, and hardness. Recreating this natural experience in robotic systems and wearable devices has been a major challenge for scientists and engineers. Now, researchers have developed a new technology called HapMorph, which brings us closer to realistic artificial touch by allowing devices to change both their size and stiffness at the same time.

Haptic technology, which focuses on creating a sense of touch through mechanical feedback, plays an important role in the future of human-robot interaction, virtual reality, medical training, and wearable robotics. However, most existing haptic systems have a limitation: they can usually reproduce only one type of physical sensation. Some devices can change shape or size, while others can simulate hardness or softness. Combining both abilities in a small, wearable system has remained a difficult engineering problem.

Researchers led by Chen and their team have introduced HapMorph, a new pneumatic-based system that can continuously adjust multiple physical properties simultaneously. The technology uses specially designed antagonistic fabric-based pneumatic actuators (AFPAs), which act like artificial muscles that can expand, contract, and change mechanical behavior through air pressure.

The key innovation behind HapMorph is its ability to control two different properties independently: the size of an object and how stiff it feels. By regulating air pressure inside two separate chambers, the system can make a wearable device feel larger or smaller while also changing its resistance when pressed or squeezed.

This is a major improvement over traditional haptic devices, which often require separate mechanisms for different sensations. HapMorph combines these functions into a lightweight and compact design, making it more practical for wearable applications.

The prototype developed by the researchers was designed specifically for hand interaction. Despite its advanced capabilities, the device weighs only 21 grams, making it lightweight enough for comfortable use. It can change its size from 50 millimeters to 104 millimeters, allowing users to experience different object dimensions. At the same time, it can adjust stiffness levels up to 4.7 Newtons per millimeter, creating a wide range of realistic touch sensations.

To understand how effectively humans could recognize these changes, the researchers conducted perception experiments involving 10 participants. The participants tested different combinations of size and stiffness settings and were asked to identify the sensations they felt.

The results showed that users could successfully distinguish between nine different haptic states, created by combining three size categories with three stiffness levels. The participants achieved an accuracy rate of 89.4%, with an average response time of only 6.7 seconds. These findings demonstrate that the human brain can clearly perceive the different physical sensations produced by HapMorph.

The technology works because of the unique behavior of antagonistic pneumatic actuators. Similar to how human muscles work in opposing groups, these actuators use controlled air pressure to create balanced movements. This allows the device to achieve smooth and continuous changes instead of only switching between fixed states.

Another important advantage of HapMorph is its flexibility. The researchers showed that the system can be expanded beyond simple size and stiffness control. By combining AFPAs with other pneumatic structures, they created designs capable of changing shape and geometry while maintaining stiffness adjustment.

This opens the possibility of future haptic devices that can simulate complex objects. For example, a virtual reality glove could allow users to feel the difference between holding a soft fruit, a hard tool, or a flexible material. Similarly, robotic systems could provide more realistic feedback when interacting with humans.

The development of HapMorph could have a significant impact on several fields. In virtual and augmented reality, realistic touch feedback could make digital experiences feel more natural. In healthcare, surgeons and medical students could use advanced haptic simulations to practice procedures with realistic physical sensations. In robotics, machines working alongside humans could better communicate through touch-based feedback.

However, creating practical haptic technology still involves challenges. Future systems need to become even smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient. Researchers also need to improve durability and develop methods for creating more complex sensations, such as texture, temperature, and dynamic movement.

Despite these challenges, HapMorph represents an important step toward the next generation of human-machine interaction. By combining size, shape, and stiffness control in a lightweight wearable device, it demonstrates that artificial touch can become much closer to the natural experience of human perception.

As robotics and virtual technologies continue to advance, the ability to recreate realistic physical sensations will become increasingly important. HapMorph shows that with innovative pneumatic designs, future devices may not only allow us to see and hear digital worlds but also truly feel them.

Reference: Chen, R., Chiaradia, D., Frisoli, A. et al. HapMorph: a pneumatic framework for multi-dimensional haptic property rendering. npj Robot (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44182-026-00102-2

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