TimesLIVE Explores Why the Next Generation of Robots Needs Touch

TimesLIVE examined one of the central challenges facing modern robotics after speaking with Haply at CES 2026: robots are becoming increasingly capable of seeing and processing their surroundings, but physical interaction requires more than vision.

The coverage explored how touch, force, and human demonstration could help robots operate more effectively outside highly controlled environments.

The limits of predictable robot behaviour

Many industrial robots perform extremely well when their surroundings and responsibilities are predictable.

They can repeat the same path, move between established positions, and complete highly defined operations with speed and consistency.

The challenge grows when robots enter environments shared with people or when objects do not behave exactly as expected.

A container may be heavier than anticipated. A surface may be slippery. An object may shift during an interaction. A person may move into the robot’s workspace.

These situations require a system to respond to physical changes rather than only follow a predefined movement.

Why vision is only part of the answer

Cameras and AI vision help robots identify objects, estimate positions, and understand their surroundings.

However, an image does not fully communicate how an object responds to contact.

When a person picks up an unfamiliar object, they continuously make small adjustments. They respond to its weight, friction, movement, and resistance. These adjustments often happen naturally, without conscious calculation.

Robots need data and control systems that can account for similar physical information.

Touch and force data can help describe when contact occurs, how much force is applied, whether resistance changes, how an object moves after contact, whether a grip is stable, and how an action should be corrected.

Learning from human demonstration

One approach to teaching robots is imitation learning.

A person demonstrates a task, and the resulting data is used to help train the robotic system. However, a visual recording may not capture every part of what the person is doing.

Two movements can look nearly identical while using very different amounts of force.

Our haptic systems can add physical context by capturing information related to movement, contact, and resistance.

This can give robotics teams a richer representation of how a physical task is completed.

Our approach to human-guided robotics

At Haply, we develop haptic interfaces and robotics tools that connect human movement with digital and robotic systems.

Our Human Advanced Robotics Platform, HARP, is designed to support robot control, demonstration, and data-collection workflows.

HARP brings together haptic interfaces, software, and robotics tools to help teams explore how people demonstrate physical tasks.

This expands on the broader challenge raised in the TimesLIVE article: how robots can learn not only where to move, but how to interact physically with the world.

Keeping people connected to robotics

The future of robotics is not only about removing people from every task.

In many settings, humans will remain responsible for demonstrating work, supervising systems, correcting mistakes, and handling situations that require judgement.

Our haptic teleoperation technology can strengthen this relationship by allowing a person to guide a robot while receiving physical information from the interaction.

This can help make the robot feel less like a distant machine and more like an extension of the operator’s movement and intent.

Preparing robots for less predictable environments

For robots to move beyond repetitive tasks, they will need to adapt to variation.

Vision, language models, and planning systems will remain important. Touch and force provide another layer of information that can help connect an intelligent plan with the physical reality of carrying it out.

We are developing technologies that help people control robots, demonstrate physical tasks, and capture the forces involved in interaction.

The TimesLIVE coverage reflects a broader shift in Physical AI: building smarter robots will require systems that understand not only what the world looks like, but how it responds when touched.

Read the original TimesLIVE article

This page was inspired by TimesLIVE’s CES 2026 article examining robotics, physical sensation, and Haply’s work in haptic technology.

Original source

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/business/2026-01-10-arthur-goldstuck-robots-get-almost-real-at-ces/

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