# DenseTact: Optical Tactile Sensor for Dense Shape Reconstruction

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.01367 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.01367/

## Key facts

- Cited by 13 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 20 of its 36 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Jan 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 20 of 20)

- [Densely Connected Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.06993/) (2016)
- [Open3D: A Modern Library for 3D Data Processing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.09847/) (2018)
- [AdaBins: Depth Estimation using Adaptive Bins](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.14141/) (2020)
- [DIGIT: A Novel Design for a Low-Cost Compact High-Resolution Tactile Sensor with Application to In-Hand Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14679/) (2020)
- [High Quality Monocular Depth Estimation via Transfer Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.11941/) (2018)
- [GelSlim: A High-Resolution, Compact, Robust, and Calibrated Tactile-sensing Finger](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.00628/) (2018)
- [Cable Manipulation with a Tactile-Reactive Gripper](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.02860/) (2019)
- [GelSlim3.0: High-Resolution Measurement of Shape, Force and Slip in a Compact Tactile-Sensing Finger](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.12269/) (2021)
- [Event-Driven Visual-Tactile Sensing and Learning for Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.07083/) (2020)
- [Improved GelSight Tactile Sensor for Measuring Geometry and Slip](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.00922/) (2017)
- [OmniTact: A Multi-Directional High Resolution Touch Sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.06965/) (2020)
- [ViTac: Feature Sharing between Vision and Tactile Sensing for Cloth Texture Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.07490/) (2018)
- [Shape-independent Hardness Estimation Using Deep Learning and a GelSight Tactile Sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.03955/) (2017)
- [Dense Tactile Force Distribution Estimation using GelSlim and inverse FEM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04621/) (2018)
- [Soft-bubble: A highly compliant dense geometry tactile sensor for robot manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.02252/) (2019)
- [GelTip: A Finger-shaped Optical Tactile Sensor for Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.05404/) (2020)
- [Tactile Regrasp: Grasp Adjustments via Simulated Tactile Transformations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.01940/) (2018)
- [Soft, Round, High Resolution Tactile Fingertip Sensors for Dexterous Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.09068/) (2020)
- [Seeing Through your Skin: Recognizing Objects with a Novel Visuotactile Sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.09552/) (2020)
- [Digger Finger: GelSight Tactile Sensor for Object Identification Inside Granular Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.10230/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 13 of 13)

- [Sequential Dexterity: Chaining Dexterous Policies for Long-Horizon Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.00987/) (2023)
- [Transferable Tactile Transformers for Representation Learning Across Diverse Sensors and Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.13640/) (2024)
- [PolyTouch: A Robust Multi-Modal Tactile Sensor for Contact-rich Manipulation Using Tactile-Diffusion Policies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.19341/) (2025)
- [AcTExplore: Active Tactile Exploration of Unknown Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08745/) (2023)
- [Next Best Sense: Guiding Vision and Touch with FisherRF for 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.04680/) (2024)
- [DexSkin: High-Coverage Conformable Robotic Skin for Learning Contact-Rich Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.18830/) (2025)
- [GelFlow: Self-supervised Learning of Optical Flow for Vision-Based Tactile Sensor Displacement Measurement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06735/) (2023)
- [Cross-Sensor Touch Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.09817/) (2025)
- [Towards Design and Development of an ArUco Markers-Based Quantitative Surface Tactile Sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08398/) (2023)
- [A Modularized Design Approach for GelSight Family of Vision-based Tactile Sensors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.14739/) (2025)
- [Fluidically Innervated Lattices Make Versatile and Durable Tactile Sensors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.21225/) (2025)
- [DOT-Sim: Differentiable Optical Tactile Simulation with Precise Real-to-Sim Physical Calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.27367/) (2026)
- [Calibration-Free Surface Normals Estimation in Vision-Based Tactile Sensing using Universal Photometric Stereo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.31754/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Increasing the performance of tactile sensing in robots enables versatile, in-hand manipulation. Vision-based tactile sensors have been widely used as rich tactile feedback has been shown to be correlated with increased performance in manipulation tasks. Existing tactile sensor solutions with high resolution have limitations that include low accuracy, expensive components, or lack of scalability. In this paper, an inexpensive, scalable, and compact tactile sensor with high-resolution surface deformation modeling for surface reconstruction of the 3D sensor surface is proposed. By measuring the image from the fisheye camera, it is shown that the sensor can successfully estimate the surface deformation in real-time (1.8ms) by using deep convolutional neural networks. This sensor in its design and sensing abilities represents a significant step toward better object in-hand localization, classification, and surface estimation all enabled by high-resolution shape reconstruction.