# Evetac: An Event-based Optical Tactile Sensor for Robotic Manipulation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.01236 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.01236/

## Key facts

- Cited by 12 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 13 of its 67 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 2 Dec 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 13 of 13)

- [Event-based Vision: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.08405/) (2019)
- [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)
- [ReSkin: versatile, replaceable, lasting tactile skins](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.00071/) (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)
- [Slip Detection with Combined Tactile and Visual Information](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.10153/) (2018)
- [Maintaining Grasps within Slipping Bound by Monitoring Incipient Slip](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.13381/) (2018)
- [Neuromorphic Event-Based Slip Detection and suppression in Robotic Grasping and Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.07386/) (2020)
- [NeuroTac: A Neuromorphic Optical Tactile Sensor applied to Texture Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.00467/) (2020)
- [Extended Tactile Perception: Vibration Sensing through Tools and Grasped Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.00489/) (2021)
- [Placing by Touching: An empirical study on the importance of tactile sensing for precise object placing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02054/) (2022)
- [A Biomimetic Tactile Fingerprint Induces Incipient Slip](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.06904/) (2020)
- [Visual Tactile Sensor Based Force Estimation for Position-Force Teleoperation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.13007/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Elite-EvGS: Learning Event-based 3D Gaussian Splatting by Distilling Event-to-Video Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.13392/) (2024)
- [AT-VLA: Adaptive Tactile Injection for Enhanced Feedback Reaction in Vision-Language-Action Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.07308/) (2026)
- [Learning Force Distribution Estimation for the GelSight Mini Optical Tactile Sensor Based on Finite Element Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.03315/) (2024)
- [On the Importance of Tactile Sensing for Imitation Learning: A Case Study on Robotic Match Lighting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13618/) (2025)
- [E-VLA: Event-Augmented Vision-Language-Action Model for Dark and Blurred Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.04834/) (2026)
- [Combined Physics and Event Camera Simulator for Slip Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.04838/) (2025)
- [Tactile MNIST: Benchmarking Active Tactile Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.06361/) (2025)
- [TranTac: Leveraging Transient Tactile Signals for Contact-Rich Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.16550/) (2025)
- [Dense Force Estimation with an Event-based Optical Tactile Sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.09451/) (2026)
- [FLEET: Token-Based Feature Extraction for Event Camera-based Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.16523/) (2026)
- [MotionDLO: Hybrid Event- and Frame-Based Tracking of Deformable Linear Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.22398/) (2026)
- [ForeTac-VLA: A Forecasting-Based Tactile-Vision-Language-Action Model for Contact-Rich Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.20980/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Optical tactile sensors have recently become popular. They provide high spatial resolution, but struggle to offer fine temporal resolutions. To overcome this shortcoming, we study the idea of replacing the RGB camera with an event-based camera and introduce a new event-based optical tactile sensor called Evetac. Along with hardware design, we develop touch processing algorithms to process its measurements online at 1000 Hz. We devise an efficient algorithm to track the elastomer's deformation through the imprinted markers despite the sensor's sparse output. Benchmarking experiments demonstrate Evetac's capabilities of sensing vibrations up to 498 Hz, reconstructing shear forces, and significantly reducing data rates compared to RGB optical tactile sensors. Moreover, Evetac's output and the marker tracking provide meaningful features for learning data-driven slip detection and prediction models. The learned models form the basis for a robust and adaptive closed-loop grasp controller capable of handling a wide range of objects. We believe that fast and efficient event-based tactile sensors like Evetac will be essential for bringing human-like manipulation capabilities to robotics. The sensor design is open-sourced at https://sites.google.com/view/evetac .