OpenTac: JHU/MIT open-source tactile sensing ecosystem with shear force and auto CAD
_krishna_murthy · x · 2026-10-25
Johns Hopkins and MIT researchers released OpenTac, an open ecosystem for customizable, scalable, transferable 3D tactile sensing (arXiv:2610.31661, live demo at CoRL 2026).
- Flex-PCB tactile skins sense both normal and shear force and can be shaped to any robot surface.
- OpenTac-CAD turns a text description, 2D outline, or 3D model into fabrication-ready hardware: PCB Gerbers, a 3D-printed shear-bump case, and a reusable USB readout board.
- The ecosystem includes simulation (OpenTac-Sim), cross-sensor transfer, high-frame-rate acquisition, and tactile policy learning, linked via sensor manifests.
- Validated on six MuJoCo Menagerie robots (Unitree G1/Go2, LEAP Hand, etc.); CERN-OHL-P/MIT/CC BY 4.0 licensed, easily orderable via JLCPCB, and designed with AI agents in mind.
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