GelSight Makes High-Res Imaging More Field-Friendly [VIDEO]

A handheld device created by researchers in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences lets (relatively) unencumbered users achieve resolutions that were previously only possible with large and expensive lab equipment. The device uses GelSight, which is basically a slab of synthetic rubber that is coated on one side with metal-flecked paint. When an object is pressed against the device, the paint-coated side distorts. Cameras mounted on the opposite side photograph the results, and computers analyze the images.

According to research affiliate Micah Kimo Johnson's website:

Complete information is recorded in a single frame; therefore we can record video of the changing deformation of the skin, and then generate an animation of the changing surface. The GelSight sensor has no moving parts (other than the elastomer slab), uses inexpensive materials, and can be made into a portable device that can be used 'in the field' to record surface shape and texture.

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