We want to create a pair of networked 5×5 tactile pixel boards that makes touch transferable. When we press a pattern on the master board, the slave board moves in the exact same places and to the same depths, driven by micro servos / miniature motors (cam or lead-screw actuation). In other words, we aim to copy a physical contact pattern and paste it somewhere else through communication, enabling a striking real-time demo of touch streaming: 25 channels of contact, synchronized and visibly identical.
We want this system to serve as a powerful building block for medical robotics, where success often hinges on subtle contact skills rather than pure motion: how much to compress with an ultrasound probe, how to palpate safely, and how to convey safe contact intent during human–robot interaction. By physically transmitting “where to press and how much” instead of describing it with words or videos, we aim to support clearer tele-mentoring and tele-training, and to quantify how latency and synchronization shape the fidelity and safety of replicated contact before future integration with robot-assisted medical workflows. For context and inspiration, we will include the MIT inFORM demonstration as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouP9xNujkNo