unique ability of geckos to sense vibrations, and the capacity of sandpipers to locate objects hidden beneath the sand using their beaks. The research adopted similar methods as those used with sandpipers, requiring human participants to discover an object concealed in the sand. The participants managed to sense its existence even prior to physically touching the buried object.
This research assembled a group of four scholars from Queen Mary University of London and University College London. Their results were published in the journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers under the title “Investigating Tactile Perception for Object Localization in Granular Media: A Human and Robotic Examination” in 2025. The publication emphasizes that the implications of these results could influence the domain of robotics, as well as other touch-oriented tools and systems utilized for scientific endeavors.