Experiments indicate higher-than-expected tactile sensitivity; humans achieved 70.7% accuracy, and researchers see potential for robotics, assistive technologies, and searching in limited visibility conditions
New research suggests that humans are capable of “remote touch”: identifying an object buried in the sand before actually touching it. This is a sensory ability known from the animal world in certain shorebirds, but this is the first time it has been documented in humans. Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and University College London suggest that the human hand is much more sensitive than previously thought, to the point of approaching the theoretical physical limit of detecting changes in pressure and movement in granular material.
In the experiments, presented at the IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), participants were asked to gently move their fingers through sand to locate a hidden cube. Many were reportedly able to “feel” the object’s presence even before direct contact. The explanation offered by the researchers is based on the physics of granular materials: the movement of sand around a solid object slightly changes the direction of motion or the resistance experienced by the finger, and our sensory system is able to detect this.
Humans versus robotic sensor
The researchers compared human performance to a robotic tactile sensor trained using an LSTM algorithm. The humans achieved 70.7% accuracy over the expected detection range, while the robot, while sometimes detecting objects from slightly further away, tended to make more “false detections,” with an overall accuracy of 40%. The researchers say the picture is interesting because both sides – human and machine – came close to the maximum sensitivity predicted by the physical models.
If “remote touch” is a true human ability, it expands our understanding of the “receptive field” of touch—that is, the range over which our tactile system can absorb meaningful information. Beyond fundamental questions in psychology and perceptual science, the research may contribute to the development of touch sensors and assistive technologies: robots and tools that can “feel” carefully in environments with limited vision, perform tests and searches in granular media, and perhaps even locate archaeological artifacts without damaging them.
Elisabetta Versace of Queen Mary University of London said the research changes our understanding of the perceptual world of living things, including humans. Zhengqi Chen added that the findings could guide the development of tools that extend tactile perception – from delicate robots to systems for searching in sandy environments, such as the Martian soil or the seabed. Lorenzo Giamuna stressed that the connection between human experiments and robot training provided two-way insights, demonstrating how multidisciplinary collaboration can accelerate both fundamental discoveries and engineering innovation.
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For Efrat – everyone has hands, not everyone has a mind, and sometimes there is a cube in the sand and that's it.
Humans are able to find objects, people, animals and plants with absolute precision from distances of meters to kilometers. I have been teaching people to do this for years, and many more, and they are the only ones who are surprised. Our ability, like that of animals, to connect with the field around us is clear and proven. In Western culture we have become addicted to the prison of the thinking brain that only uses the physical senses, but the rest of the family of life has not forgotten the connection and would not be able to function without it.
Discover America🤣 Everyone who has hands.. knows this.