We’ve digitized sound. We’ve digitized light. But touch, maybe the most human of our senses, has stayed stubbornly analog.
That might be about to change, thanks to programmable matter. Or programmable fabric.
In this TechFirst episode, I speak with Adam Hopkins, CEO of Sensetics, a new UC Berkeley/Virginia Tech spinout building programmable fabrics that replicate the mechanoreceptors in human fingertips. Their technology can sense touch at tens of microns, respond at hardware-level speeds, and even play back touch remotely.
Programmable matter … digital touch
The episode explores the invention and implications of digital touch, featuring Adam Hopkins, CEO of Synthetix, a startup commercializing metamaterial-based programmable fabrics that mimic human fingertip mechanoreceptors. The technology promises human-level (or better) tactile sensing and haptic playback, enabling robots, humans, and machines to feel physical contact in high fidelity.
How the technology works
Synthetix’s core breakthrough is a metamaterial-based “programmable fabric” developed at UC Berkeley and Virginia Tech by co-founder Dr. Ren Zhang. Key elements include …
Micron-scale metamaterials
- Structures made at tens of microns scale
- Struts, curves, planes arranged with precision
- Can embed piezoelectric actuators
- Can embed conductive pathways (not traditional wires)
Bidirectional capability
The same material can:
- Sense deformations at extremely high resolution
- Actuate by deforming itself when digitally signaled
This duality enables:
- Real-time tactile sensing
- Real-time haptic output
- Touch file formats and digital transmission
Resolution and speed
- Humans sense down to ~400 microns; Synthetix can sense tens of microns
- Humans detect vibration up to ~400 Hz; Synthetix can exceed this
- Humans send tactile data at ~1,000 bits/sec; Synthetix can exceed this due to digital compute
Why touch matters for robots
Touch is fundamental to:
- Stability and balance
- Object manipulation
- Precision force control
- Dexterity and safety
Robots today rely overwhelmingly on camera vision. But vision is slower (100–120 Hz), is delayed by processing time, isn’t effective in occluded or cluttered spaces, and cannot reliably infer force.
Touch, on the other hand, is essentially instantaneous at the hardware level (piezoelectrics respond immediately), higher resolution than cameras in many contexts, crucial for safety when handling fragile or variable objects, and required for human-level dexterity
Applications and markets
1. Robotics
Touch enables:
- Adaptive grip
- Safe manipulation
- Handling fragile items
- Better humanoid walking
- Handling deformable objects
- Safe interaction with humans
2. Medical training and surgery
Digitizing and transmitting touch enables:
- High-precision simulation
- Remote palpation
- Robotic surgery improvements
- Deep-tissue tactile simulation
- Increased learning retention (2× with haptic VR)
3. Remote operations
Now, you can touch things that you could never reach before …
- Nuclear environments
- Deep-sea
- Mountainous or dangerous terrains
- Space and orbital operations
- Disaster response
4. Virtual reality / enterprise simulation
Touch provides a totally new interface for deeper simulations …
- Feeling virtual objects
- More accurate hand-based manipulation
- Training industrial workers
- Precision tasks (mechanics, engineering)
Manufacturing and scale
According to current plans, Hopkins says they expect product by 2027.
- Developer kit expected before 2027
- First product targeted for early 2027
- Initial production done via micro-scaled 3D printing
Future possibilities
There are huge potential possibilities for touch that works:
- Touch peripherals for laptops
- Mass-produced tactile skins for robots
- Remote shopping with touch
- Full-body tactile experiences in VR
- Physical AI with real-world spatial intelligence