OpenTac Brings HDR Readout to Open Tactile Sensors, Sensing Light and Heavy Touch at Once
_krishna_murthy · x · 2026-11-06
Open-source tactile sensing project OpenTac introduces high dynamic range (HDR) readout to fix a core limitation: with fixed gain, sensors saturate under heavy loads or miss light touches.
On its 60-pin board, each taxel is read first at the highest gain, then re-read at lower gains (1/3, 1/10) within the same frame if saturated, reporting the highest non-saturating gain. Demos show one sensor measuring a small weight and a hand-pressed dumbbell simultaneously at force ratios up to 1170:1; in a 360-taxel calibration under a 78 N press, fixed gain saturated 26 of 45 contacting taxels and plateaued near 9 N, while HDR captured the full range.
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