Here is a robot that communicates through shadow movement. As General Robotics Lab explains, these flexible robots can adapt their form to generate a diverse range of shadows. They can use expressive shadows to communicate. Teaching robots to create shadow art can be challenging. The same shadow can be produced by different hand poses. Let’s not forget human hands naturally block light between the fingers while regular robot hands have gaps.
To create shadow imitation, robots must capture details of the shape as well as the dynamic movement of the shadow to express information. Researchers used a 21 DOF robotic hand with a soft skin to pull this off. The soft outer layer doesn’t interfere with the robot’s movement but minimizes light leak. The above video shows this robotic hand in action.
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