Loomia Smart Skin: Tactile Sensor Developer Kit

LOOMIA Smart Skin: Giving AI the Sense of Touch

ChatGPT gave AI a voice. But what gives it a body?

As generative AI expands from software into hardware, humanoid robots are emerging to bring intelligence into the physical world. While the robot’s “brain” processes commands, it’s the body—especially the surfaces—that enables sensing, response, and real-time interaction. The missing layer? Touch.

LOOMIA Smart Skin is a conformable tactile sensing layer designed to equip robots with pressure-sensitive feedback on hands, fingers, and any part of their exterior.

Built for Real-World Humanoid Robotics

Developed using LOOMIA’s patented Electronic Layer (LEL), Smart Skin delivers a lightweight, flexible sensing platform designed to integrate with curved, moving, and high-friction surfaces.

Unlike rigid or flat sensors that struggle with real-world geometries, Smart Skin was created specifically for high-motion, complex areas. It enables:

• Precise grip control for delicate objects

• Fine manipulation for dexterous tasks

• Surface-level intelligence for responsive interaction

It is also silver-free and materially optimized to reduce the carbon footprint typically associated with advanced electronic systems.

A Proven, Commercial-Grade Technology

Smart Skin is not a lab prototype. It’s a refined, tested product based on years of R&D and multiple real-world deployments:

• Used by Festo in 2020 to enable a robotic hand to handle soft items like apples and fabrics

• Selected by a Fortune 50 company for a 1,000+ unit rollout in a next-generation device program

• Recently issued LOOMIA’s 8th patent covering tactile sensing architecture and integration

This work establishes Smart Skin as a commercially ready sensing platform—field-proven, manufacturable, and available now.

Why It Matters

Hands and fingers account for more than 17% of a humanoid robot’s hardware cost—making them the most expensive subsystem to build. They’re also among the hardest to integrate with reliable sensors.

Flat sensors often produce noisy or false readings when bent. We encountered this firsthand while developing Smart Skin and had to solve the problem through real materials testing. Our team manually sourced and tested dozens of sensor stacks to identify a combination that would work under dynamic movement and curvature—something no off-the-shelf option could offer.

The result is a tactile sensing solution built not just with technical rigor but with creative problem-solving and persistence. This is what sets Smart Skin apart—it works where others fail.

Built for Engineers. Designed for Scale.

• Compatible with curved and jointed surfaces

• Offers both capacitive and FSR sensing options

• Designed for integration into robotic hands and fingers

• Available in evaluation kits for immediate testing

Smart Skin supports plug-and-play setups with Arduino and ROS, enabling engineering teams to start prototyping quickly and reliably.

Looking Ahead

As embodied AI scales into real-world applications—from warehouse robotics to caregiving—tactile sensing will be a core enabler. Over the next five years, more than half of the leading humanoid robotics companies will move into large-scale deployment. Surface-level sensing will be critical to this transition.

LOOMIA Smart Skin gives those systems the tactile intelligence they need to perform complex tasks with precision and safety.

To learn more or request a dev kit, contact us directly or visit our website.

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