The robot’s fluoropolymer-coated sensor acts like a battery to create an electric field that can detect metal, plastics, glass and wood
2-MIN READ2-MINZhang Tongin BeijingPublished: 12:00pm, 16 Aug 2026Electric eels hunt in pitch-black, murky waters by generating electric fields around their bodies. Now, Chinese scientists have mimicked this natural radar, giving robots the ability to “feel” objects without making physical contact.“We want the machine to sense an approaching target – distinguish its material and surface condition – before any physical contact,” said Zhang Weiqiang, a professor at Xidian University, in a video interview last week.
Their work was published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Materials.
“When an object draws near, the sensor picks up changes in the field and from those changes, it can infer the object’s electrical conductivity, dielectric properties and geometric shape,” Zhang said.
