The human sense of touch turns out to be much more sensitive than we thought. It goes beyond just simple physical contact with an object. A new study has demonstrated that humans have the ability to remotely detect the presence of an object, like having a new sense beyond the five that we’re used to.
It brings to mind special abilities found in the animal kingdom. Like the special sense of geckos that allows them to detect vibrations, and the ability of sandpipers to detect objects underneath the sand with their beaks. The study employed similar techniques to sandpipers, having human subjects find an object hidden in the sand. The subjects were able to detect its presence even before actually coming into physical contact with the buried item.
This study brought together a team of four researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the University College London. Their findings were published in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal under the title “Exploring Tactile Perception for Object Localization in Granular Media: A Human and Robotic Study” in 2025. The publication highlights that implications for these findings can impact the field of robotics, as well as for other touch-based tools and systems used for scientific purposes.
The details of this study
The study buried objects in sand and asked 12 human participants to locate the object with their hands only. This research found that humans were able to detect the object when it was up to 2.72 inches away based on the nature of how the sand moved around the object, with a median distance of just over one inch. In fact, the participants had an impressive 70% accuracy in detecting the object without actually touching it with their fingers.
The study then had a robot try out the same challenge. The robot utilized had a tactile-equipped arm for gripping and searching, and used a long short-term memory model to aid in its search. While a robot eye may have better sight than humans, it was time to find out if this robotic arm sensed buried objects better than humans did.
The robot could detect the object at a further distance than the humans could, with a median distance of 2.36 inches and a maximum of 2.8 inches. However, the robotics results yielded false positives more often than the humans, meaning it thought it found the object when it hadn’t. Because of this, the robot only had a 40% accuracy.
Why this information is important
The authors of the study feel these results have a great deal of potential. First, it uncovers something not known about humans. Our remote sense of touch, this new sense, is quite strong and quite accurate. It turns out we are more in tune with our surroundings than originally thought.
Second, this informs future advancements in the field of robotics. What was found in humans could then help to model robots and other technologies that rely on sensitive touch. Some of the scientific fields that could benefit from this, according to the study, would be archaeology, ocean exploration, research on Mars, and even working within hazardous environments. These types of fields require searching for and handling delicate items with care. It’s easy to see how a remote sense of touch would be ideal for missions like uncovering a 2,000-year-old underwater temple.
The research team also points out this knowledge and technology could prove useful in search and rescue operations. When trying to find survivors under rubble, it’s important to not disturb the terrain so it doesn’t bury them even further, and it’s key to detect survivors as quickly as possible. A remote touch sense would be ideal to capitalize on in these types of operations.
