Design of a Biomimetic Joint-Covering Skin with Tissue-Like Structure to Enhance Proprioception in a Musculoskeletal Humanoid
2026-08-24 • Robotics
Robotics
AI summaryⓘ
The authors designed a special skin for a robot joint that mimics human soft tissue, which senses pressure and stretch around the joint. They tested this skin on a humanoid robot called Musashi-W and found it could estimate joint angles with about 3 degrees of error on its own. When combined with traditional muscle sensors, the accuracy improved further. This new skin might also help the robot understand external forces better and protect muscles from disturbances. The study shows that adding this kind of skin can enhance how robots sense their own joints.
proprioceptionmusculoskeletal humanoidjoint angle estimationbiomimetic skinmechanoreceptorsmuscle sensingcutaneous deformationpressure sensorsstretch sensorssensor integration
Authors
Akihiro Miki, Shun Hasegawa, Yoshimoto Ribayashi, Kento Kawaharazuka, Kei Okada
Abstract
Proprioception in musculoskeletal humanoids is typically estimated primarily from muscle sensing, while the role of cutaneous deformation around joints remains insufficiently explored. In biological systems, mechanoreceptors distributed within soft tissue complement muscle feedback and support reliable joint state estimation. This study presents the design of a biomimetic joint-covering skin with a tissue-like layered structure that integrates pressure- and stretch-sensitive elements within the joint-covering tissue. The proposed skin is implemented on the musculoskeletal humanoid Musashi-W, and its independent proprioceptive capability as well as its integration with muscle sensing are evaluated. Experimental results show that the proposed skin alone achieves joint angle estimation with an average error of approximately 3 degrees. Furthermore, integration with muscle sensing improves estimation accuracy. Owing to its joint-covering structure, the skin may mechanically mitigate the influence of external disturbances on the muscles, and the integration of multiple modalities suggests the possibility of contributing to the identification of external stimuli that are difficult to interpret using muscle sensing alone. This work presents a design methodology for biomimetic joint-covering skin and demonstrates that such tissue-structured skin can serve as an effective approach for extending proprioceptive systems in musculoskeletal humanoids.