3D Tactile Sensing Enabling Electronics to ‘Feel’

Imagine giving your electronics a sense of touch — not just contact, but force/pressure, direction, and distribution. That’s exactly what XELA Robotics is enabling with its taxel-based tactile sensing systems. We caught up with Wilson Ko at Computex 2025 to explore the company’s 3D force sensors and how they could change the way robots and embedded systems interact with the world.

Download the full datasheet here: XELA Robotics uSPa11 Datasheet

What is a Taxel?

A taxel is a 7 x 7.5 x 4.7 mm tactile pixel—a single sensing unit typically used within larger 3D tactile sensor arrays. Each taxel uses a hall-effect-based sensor to detect force across three axes: X, Y, and Z. This enables tri-axis force detection that mimics how human skin feels pressure and direction.

The technology operates on the principle of magnetic field distortion. When the soft material around the embedded sensor deforms under pressure, the surrounding magnetic field changes. This is precisely measured to determine the direction and magnitude of applied force.

Why 3D Force Sensing Matters

Current robotic grippers often lack feedback. They can grab—but they don’t know if they’ve crushed something until it breaks. XELA’s 3D tactile sensing adds context and control, enabling robots to:

• Handle fragile items like eggs
• Detect grip force in real time
• React to slip or unwanted movement
• Understand touch across surfaces, not just single points

This is vital for applications in robotics, prosthetics, human-machine interfaces, and smart wearables.

Beyond Robots: Wearables, Sports Tech, and Assistive Devices

XELA’s sensors aren’t just for industrial manipulators. XELA Robotics’ Wilson outlined use cases including:

• Smart backpacks with sensors in the straps to analyse weight distribution
• Sports equipment, such as snowboard boots with embedded sensors to analyse stance and motion
• Assistive technology for visually impaired users who rely on pressure-based haptics

The flexible sensor arrays can be embedded into soft or curved surfaces, and each array can include hundreds of taxels with minimal wiring. One demo showed a 368-taxel hand running on just two CAN buses.

Technical Information

Download the full datasheet here: XELA Robotics uSPa11 Datasheet

System Current Consumption

A taxel array’s peak current consumption increases proportionally with the number of integrated taxels. The below figure is for the uSkin patch models containing a microcontroller

Addressing Interference and Harsh Environments

Because the system is magnetic, temperature shifts and nearby metals could affect accuracy. XELA solves this with built-in temperature and interference compensation. Their systems actively correct for distortion in the magnetic field to maintain precision in challenging environments.

Without compensation, temperature shift (from external sources and internal heating from operation) causes significant drift in the Z-axis. The compensated output is demonstrated by the red trace, whereas without compensation the Z-axis output would follow the temperature curve.

This opens the door to tactile sensing in more rugged or mobile systems, from wearables to field robotics.

uSmc Integrated Microcontroller

XELA Robotic’s uSPa range of taxel sensors include an integrated uSmc microcontroller to read the complex sensor signals. These sample between 125 Hz to 500 Hz, and facilitate data communication over CAN-bus.

Ready for the Future of Robotics

Before solutions like this, tactile sensing was limited to simple capacitive or resistive contacts. These detected if something was touched, but not how, where, or how much. XELA’s distributed magnetic sensing enables higher resolution and full three-dimensional force detection.

The company sees its tech as the natural evolution after vision sensing. While vision has become mature and AI-enhanced, touch remains underutilised. But with tactile sensors this advanced, that gap is closing.

Download the full datasheet here: XELA Robotics uSPa11 Datasheet