Freescale Semiconductor's MPL115A2 is a tiny thing that will sit
quite comfortably on the tip of your finger. It's hard not to
marvel at the engineering that went into the creation of
something so small, yet so sensitive. The little metal square is
minute enough to be plunked into a cell phone, offering up
location pinpointing technologies that supplement GPS, gauging
positions based on changes in atmospheric pressure. Harvard's
Biorobotics team was clearly impressed when it discovered the
technology, devising a fascinating implementation that extends
beyond the walls of the cell phone. The sensors would go on to
form the core of the department's TakkTile open-source boards
capable of bringing sensitive touch sensing to robot hands. The
I2C bus / USB-compatible boards incorporate several of the
sensors, with the whole thing covered in 6mm of rubber, to help
protect them. The rubber lends some durability to the TakkTile
-- in fact, if you click on after the break, you can see footage
of the team placing a 25 p