Papers

Educational SoftHand-A: Building an Anthropomorphic Hand with Soft Synergies using LEGO MINDSTORMS
J Lepora, H Li, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2025) IROS

Tactile Robotics: Past and Future
N Lepora (2025) International Journal of Robotics Research

Classification of Vision-Based Tactile Sensors: A Review
H Li, Y Lin, C Lu, M Yang, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2025) IEEE Sensors
Preprint: arXiv

Tactile SoftHand-A: 3D-Printed, Tactile, Highly-underactuated, Anthropomorphic Robot Hand with an Antagonistic Tendon Mechanism
H Li, C Ford, C Lu, Y Lin, M Bianchi, M Catalano, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2025) International Journal of Robotics Research
Open Access
Project page: github.com/SoutheastWind/Tactile_SoftHand_A

StereoTacTip: Vision-Based Tactile Sensing With Biomimetic Skin-Marker Arrangements
C Lu, K Tang, X Hui, H Li, S Nam, N Lepora (2025) IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
Preprint: arXiv

NeuralTouch: Neural Descriptors for Precise Sim-to-Real Tactile Robot Control
Y Lin, B Deng, C Lu, M Yang, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2025) In submission

TacFinRay: Soft Tactile Fin-Ray Finger with Indirect Tactile Sensing Applied to Robust Grasping
S Nam, B Deng, LY Lee, J Rossiter, N Lepora (2025) IEEE Robotics Automation Letters

SimShear: Sim-to-Real Shear-based Tactile Servoing
KMA Freud, Y Lin, N Lepora (2025) Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL)

Text2Touch: Tactile In-Hand Manipulation with LLM-Designed Reward Functions
H Field, M Yang, Y Lin, E Psomopoulou, D Barton, N Lepora (2025) Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL)

Project website: hpfield.github.io/text2touch-website

Tactile Robotics: An Outlook
S Luo, N Lepora, W Yuan, K Althoefer, G Cheng, R Dahiya (2025) IEEE Transactions on Robotics

Shear-based Grasp Control for Multi-fingered Underactuated Tactile Robotic Hands
C Ford, H Li, M Catalano, M Bianchi, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2025) IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Preprint: arXiv

Design and Benchmarking of A Multi-Modality Sensor for Robotic Manipulation with GAN-Based Cross-Modality Interpretation
D Zhang, W Fan, J Lin, H Li, Q Cong, W Liu, N Lepora, S Luo (2025) IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Preprint: Kings College server

Integrating Human-Like Impedance Regulation and Model-Based Approaches for Compliance Discrimination via Biomimetic Optical Tactile Sensors
G Pagnanelli, L Zinelli, N Lepora, M Catalano, A Bicchi, M Bianchi (2025) IEEE Transactions on Robotics

Snap-it, Tap-it, Splat-it: Tactile-Informed 3D Gaussian Splatting for Reconstructing Challenging Surfaces
M Comi, A Tonioni, M Yang, J Tremblay, V Blukis, Y Lin, N Lepora, L Aitchison (2025). International Conference on 3D Vision (3DV)
Also see: webpage

Data-driven compliance discrimination via biomimetic soft optical tactile sensors: implementation and benchmarking with a model-based approach
P Susini, G Pagnanelli, S Nam, N Lepora, M Bianchi (2025) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Enabling Intrinsic Tactile Sensing with Soft Optical Tactile Sensors
L Marcello, G Pagnanelli, N Lepora, M Bianchi (2025) 33rd Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED)

Fin-A-Rays: Expanding Soft Gripper Compliance via Discrete Arrays of Flexible Structures
LY Lee, S Terrile, S Nam, T Liang, N Lepora, J Rossiter (2025) Soft Robotics

ViTacGen: Robotic Pushing with Vision-to-Touch Generation
Z Wu, Y Lin, Y Zhao, X Zhang, Z Chen, N Lepora, S Luo (2025) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Training Tactile Sensors to Learn Force Sensing from Each Other
S Luo, Z Chen, N Ou, X Zhang, Z Wu, Y Zhao, Y Wang, N Lepora, L Jamone, J Deng

A Neuromorphic Tactile System for Reliable Braille Reading in Noisy Environments
X Xu, N Lepora, B Ward-Cherrier (2025) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

General Force Sensation for Tactile Robot
Z Chen et al (2025) Submitted

IQM-Vis: A user-centric python toolbox for visualising and evaluating image quality metrics
M Clifford, A Hepburn, R Kleinlein, J Vila-Tomás, P Hernández-Cámara (2025) SoftwareX

The future lies in a pair of tactile hands
N Lepora (2024) Science Robotics

Pose and shear-based tactile servoing
J Lloyd, N Lepora (2024) International Journal of Robotics Research
Preprint: arXiv
Also see: webpage

Cover image: IJRR Vol 43 (7) June 2024

Based on the technical report: A pose and shear-based tactile robotic system for object tracking, surface following and object pushing

AnyRotate: Gravity-Invariant In-Hand Object Rotation with Sim-to-Real Touch
M Yang, C Lu, A Church, Y Lin, C Ford, H Li, E Psomopoulou, D Barton, N Lepora (2024) Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL)
Preprint: arXiv
Project page: maxyang27896.github.io/anyrotate/

DexiTac: Soft Dexterous Tactile Gripping
C Lu, K Tang, M Yang, T Yue, H Li, N Lepora (2024) IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
Preprint: arXiv

Tactile control for object tracking and dynamic contour following
K Aquilina, D Barton, N Lepora (2024) Robotics and Autonomous Systems
Open access

Coarse-to-fine Robotic Pushing using Touch, Vision and Proprioception
B Deng, Y Lin, M Yang, N Lepora (2024) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Preprint: Bristol

TacPalm: A soft gripper with a biomimetic optical tactile palm for stable precise grasping
X Zhang, T Yang, D Zhang, NF Lepora (2024) IEEE Sensors Journal
Preprint: arXiv

BioTacTip: A Soft Biomimetic Optical Tactile Sensor for Efficient 3D Contact Localization and 3D Force Estimation
H Li, S Nam, Z Lu, C Yang, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2024) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv

Best poster award: ICRA 2024 ViTac Workshop

TouchSDF: A DeepSDF Approach for 3D Shape Reconstruction using Vision-Based Tactile Sensing
M Comi, Y Lin, A Church, A Tonieni, L Aitcheson, N Lepora (2024) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv
Also see: webpage

Efficient Tactile Sensing-based Learning from Limited Real-world Demonstrations for Dual-arm Fine Pinch-Grasp Skills
X Mao, Y Xu, R Wen, M Kasaei, W Yu, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora, Z Li (2024) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv

ViTacTip: Design and Verification of a Novel Biomimetic Physical Vision-Tactile Fusion Sensoor
W Fan, H Li, W Si, S Luo, N Lepora, D Zhang (2024) ICRA

Visual-Tactile Robot Grasping Based on Human Skill Learning from Demonstrations Using a Wearable Parallel Hand Exoskeleton
Z Lu et al (2024) ICRA

TacShade: A New 3D-Printed Soft Optical Tactile Sensor Based on Light, Shadow and Grey Scale for Shape Reconstruction
Z Lu et al (2024) ICRA

Sim-to-Real Model-Based and Model-Free Deep Reinforcement Learning for Tactile Pushing
M Yang, Y Lin, A Church, J Lloyd, D Zhang, D Barton, N Lepora (2023) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv
Also see: webpage

Bi-Touch: Bimanual Tactile Manipulation with Sim-to-Real Deep Reinforcement Learning
Y Lin, A Church, M Yang, H Li, J Lloyd, D Zhang, N Lepora (2023) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv
Also see: webpage

TacMMs: Tactile Mobile Manipulators for Warehouse Automation
Z He, X Zhang, S Jones, S Hauert, D Zhang, N Lepora (2023) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv
Also see: webpage

Attention for Robot Touch: Tactile Saliency Prediction for Robust Sim-to-Real Tactile Control
Y Lin, M Comi, A Church, D Zhang, N Lepora (2023) IROS
Preprint: arXiv
Also see: webpage

Tactile-Driven Gentle Grasping for Human-Robot Collaborative Tasks
C Ford, H Li, J Lloyd, M Catalano, M Bianchi, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2023) ICRA
Preprint: arXiv

Tac-VGNN: A Voronoi Graph Neural Network
for Pose-Based Tactile Servoing
W Fan, M Yang, Y Xing, N Lepora, D Zhang (2023) ICRA
Preprint: arXiv

An overview of robotic grippers
T Cairnes, C Ford, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2023) IEEE Potentials
Preprint: arXiv

Incipient Slip Detection with a Biomimetic Skin Morphology
D Córdova Bulens et al (2023) IROS

Model-Based Compliance Discrimination via Soft Tactile Optical Sensing and Optical Flow Computation: A Biomimetic Approach
G Pagnanelli et al (2023) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters

Digital Twin-Driven Mixed Reality Framework for Immersive Teleoperation With Haptic Rendering
W Fan et al (2023) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters

Visual-Tactile Robot Grasping based on Human Skill Learning from Demonstrations using A Wearable Parallel Hand Exoskeleton
Z Lu, et al (2023)  IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters

Towards Living Machines: future trends of tactile sensing, grasping & social robotics
V Vouloutsi et al (2023) Bioinspiration & Biomimetics

Tactile Gym 2.0: Sim-to-real Deep Reinforcement Learning for Comparing Low-cost High-Resolution Robot Touch
Y Lin, J Lloyd, A Church, N Lepora (2022) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv
Open software: tactile-gym
Also see: webpage

BRL/Pisa/IIT SoftHand: A Low-cost, 3D-Printed, Underactuated, Tendon-Driven Hand with Soft and Adaptive Synergies
H Li, C Ford, M Bianchi, M Catalano, E Psomopoulou, N Lepora (2022) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv
Open hardware: BPI-SoftHand
Also see: webpage

Artificial SA-I and RA-I Afferents for Tactile Sensing of Ridges and Gratings
N Pestell, T Griffith, N Lepora (2022) Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Preprint: arXiv
Open software: afferents-tactile-gratings-jrsi2022
Open data: data-bris repository
Also see: Royal Society blog article and Science article

Artificial SA-I, RA-I and Vibrational Afferents for Tactile Sensing of Texture
N Pestell, N Lepora (2022) Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Preprint: arXiv
Open software: afferents-tactile-textures-jrsi2022
Open data: data-bris repository

Mapping Mid-Air Haptics With a Low-Cost Tactile Robot
N Alakhawand, W Frier, N Lepora (2022) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv

Semi-Supervised Disentanglement of Tactile Contact Geometry from Sliding-Induced Shear
A Gupta, A Church, N Lepora (2022) IROS
Preprint: arXiv

One-Shot Domain-Adaptive Imitation Learning via Progressive Learning Applied to Robotic Pouring
D Zhang, W Fan, J Lloyd, C Yang, N Lepora (2022) IEEE T-ASE

Biomimetic Perception, Cognition, and Control: From Nature to Robots [From the Guest Editors]
C Yang et al (2022) IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine

Neuromorphic Tactile Edge Orientation Classification in an Unsupervised Spiking Neural Network
F MacDonand et al (2022) Sensors

Soft Biomimetic Optical Tactile Sensing with the TacTip: A Review
N Lepora (2021) IEEE Sensors
Preprint: arXiv

Pose-Based Tactile Servoing: Controlled Soft Touch with Deep Learning
N Lepora, J Lloyd (2021) IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine
Preprint: arXiv

Goal-Driven Robotic Pushing using Tactile and Proprioceptive Feedback
J Lloyd, N Lepora (2021) IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Preprint: arXiv

Slip Detection for Grasp Stabilization with a Multifingered Tactile Robot Hand
J James, N Lepora (2021) IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Preprint: arXiv

Tactile Sim-to-Real Policy Transfer via Real-to-Sim Tactile Image Translation
A Church, J Lloyd, R Hadsell, N Lepora (2021) Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL)
Open access
Open software: tactile_gym
Also see: webpage

Tactile Image-to-Image Disentanglement of Contact Geometry from Motion-Induced Shear
A Gupta, L Aitcheson, N Lepora (2021) Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL)
Open access

A robust controller for stable 3D pinching using tactile sensing
E Psomopoulou, N Pestell, F Papadopoulos, J Lloyd, Z Doulgeri, N Lepora (2021) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv

Towards integrated tactile sensorimotor control in anthropomorphic soft robotic hands
N Lepora et al (2021) ICRA
Preprint: arXiv

Optimal deep learning for robot touch: Training accurate pose models of 3d surfaces and edges
N Lepora, J Lloyd (2020) IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine
Preprint: arXiv

Tactile Model O: Fabrication & testing of a 3d-printed, 3-fingered tactile robot hand
J James, A Church, N Lepora (2020) Soft Robotics
Open access

Cover image: Soft Robotics Vol 8 (5) Oct 2021

Deep Reinforcement Learning for Tactile Robotics: Learning to Type on a Braille Keyboard
A Church, J Lloyd, R Hadsell, N Lepora (2020) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv

A Biomimetic Tactile Fingerprint Induces Incipient Slip
J James, S Redmond, N Lepora (2020) IROS
Preprint: arXiv

NeuroTac: A neuromorphic optical tactile sensor applied to texture recognition
B Ward-Cherrier, N Pestell, N Lepora (2020) ICRA
Preprint: arXiv

A Miniaturised Neuromorphic Tactile Sensor integrated with an Anthropomorphic Robot Hand
B Ward-Cherrier, J Conradt, M Catalano, M Bianchi, N Lepora (2020) IROS

Walking on TacTip toes: A tactile sensing foot for walking robots
L Stone, N Lepora, D Barton (2020) IROS
Preprint: arXiv

Learning to Live Life on the Edge: Online Learning for Data-Efficient Tactile Contour Following
L Stone, N Lepora, D Barton (2020) IROS
Preprint: arXiv

Sensing Ultrasonic Mid-Air Haptics with a Biomimetic Tactile Fingertip
N Alakhawand, W Frier, K McAdam Freud, O Georgiou, N lepora (2020) EuroHaptics
Open Access

From pixels to percepts: Highly robust edge perception and contour following using deep learning and an optical biomimetic tactile sensor
N Lepora et al (2019) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: arXiv

A sense of touch for the shadow modular grasper
N Pestell, L Cramphorn, F Papadopoulos, N Lepora (2019) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Preprint: bris.ac.uk

Shear-invariant Sliding Contact Perception with a Soft Tactile Sensor
K Aquilina, D Barton, N Lepora (2019) ICRA
Preprint: arXiv

The TacTip family: Soft optical tactile sensors with 3d-printed biomimetic morphologies
B Ward-Cherrier, …, N Lepora (2018) Soft robotics
Open access

Slip detection with a biomimetic tactile sensor
J James, N Pestell, N Lepora (2018) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters
Open access

Voronoi features for tactile sensing: Direct inference of pressure, shear and location
L Cramphorn, J Lloyd, N Lepora (2018) ICRA

Principal components of touch
K Aquilina, D Barton, N Lepora (2018) ICRA

Dual-modal tactile perception and exploration
N Pestell, J Lloyd, J Rossiter, N Lepora (2018) IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters

TacWhiskers: Biomimetic optical tactile whiskered robots
N Lepora, M Pearson, L Cramphorn (2018) IROS

Active Touch with a Biomimetic 3D-Printed Whiskered Robot
N Lepora, N Burnus, Yi Tao, L Cramphorn (2018) Living Machines

Exploratory tactile servoing with active touch
N Lepora et al (2017) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Model-free precise in-hand manipulation with a 3d-printed tactile gripper
B Ward-Cherrier, N Rojas, N Lepora (2017) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Exploiting sensor symmetry for generalized tactile perception in biomimetic touch
B Ward-Cherrier, L Cramphorn, N Lepora (2017) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Addition of a biomimetic fingerprint on an artificial fingertip enhances tactile spatial acuity
L Cramphorn, B Ward-Cherrier, N Lepora (2017) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Object exploration using vision and active touch
C Yang, N Lepora (2017) IROS

Active sensorimotor control for tactile exploration
U Martinez-Hernandez, … N Lepora (2017) Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Biomimetic active touch with fingertips and whiskers
N Lepora (2016) IEEE Transactions on Haptics

Superresolution with an optical tactile sensor
N Lepora, B Ward-Cherrier (2015) IROS

Tactile manipulation with a TacThumb integrated on the open-hand M2 gripper
B Ward-Cherrier, L Cramphorn, N Lepora (2016) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Tactile quality control with biomimetic active touch
N Lepora, B Ward-Cherrier (2016) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Tactile manipulation with biomimetic active touch
L Cramphorn, B Ward-Cherrier, N Lepora (2016) ICRA

The state of the art in biomimetics
N Lepora, P Verschure, T Prescott (2013) Bioinspiration & biomimetics

A future of living machines? International trends and prospects in biomimetic and biohybrid systems
T Prescott, N Lepora, P Vershure (2014) Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication

Living Machines 2012: The First International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems
N Lepora, A Mura, P Verschure, T Prescott (2013) Bioinspiration & biomimetics

Tactile superresolution and biomimetic hyperacuity
N Lepora et al (2015) IEEE Transactions on Robotics

Active Bayesian Perception for Simultaneous Object Localization and Identification
N Lepora, U Martinez-Hernandez, T Prescott (2013) Robotics: Science and Systems

Active touch for robust perception under position uncertainty
N Lepora, U Martinez-Hernandez, T Prescott (2013) ICRA

Embodied hyperacuity: Shape and position discrimination with an icub fingertip sensor
N Lepora, U Martinez-Hernandez, …, T Prescott (2012) IROS

Active Bayesian perception and reinforcement learning
N Lepora, U Martinez-Hernandez, G Pezzulo, T Prescott (2013) IROS

Active contour following to explore object shape with robot touch
U Martinez-Hernandez, …, N Lepora (2013) World Haptics Conference

Active Bayesian perception for angle and position discrimination with a biomimetic fingertip
U Martinez-Hernandez, T Dodd, T Prescott, N Lepora (2013) IROS

Optimal decision-making in mammals: insights from a robot study of rodent texture discrimination
N Lepora, …, T Prescott (2012) Journal of The Royal Society Interface

Brain-inspired bayesian perception for biomimetic robot touch
N Lepora, …, T Prescott (2012) ICRA

Naive Bayes novelty detection for a moving robot with whiskers
N Lepora, …, Prescott (2010) ROBIO

Naive Bayes texture classification applied to whisker data from a moving robot
N Lepora, … T Prescott (2010) IJCNN

Decision Threshold Learning in the Basal Ganglia for Multiple Alternatives
T Griffith, S Baker, N Lepora (2025) Neural Computation
Preprint: arXiv

Relating Human Error–Based Learning to Modern Deep RL Algorithms
M Garibbo, C Ludwig, N Lepora, L Aitchison (2024) Neural Computation
Preprint: arXiv

Feature attention as a control mechanism for the balance of speed and accuracy in visual search
T Griffith, F. Townend, S. Baker, N Lepora (2023) Computational Brain and Behaviour

Degenerate Boundaries for Multiple-Alternative Decisions
S Baker, T Griffith, N Lepora (2022) Nature Communications, open access
Open software: DegenerateBoundaries_NatComm22
Open data: degenerate-boundaries-natcom2022

Learning offline: memory replay in biological and artificial reinforcement learning
E Roscow, R Chua, R Ponte Costa, M Jones, N Lepora (2021) Trends in Neurosciences
Preprint: arXiv

The statistics of optimal decision making: Exploring the relationship between signal detection theory and sequential analysis
T Griffith, SA Baker, N Lepora (2021) Journal of Mathematical Psychology

Threshold Learning for Optimal Decision Making
N Lepora (2016) NeurIPS

Embodied choice: how action influences perceptual decision making
N Lepora, G Pezzulo (2015) PLoS Computational Biology

Probabilistic decision making with spikes: From ISI distributions to behaviour via information gain
J Caballero, N Lepora, K Gurney (2015) PLoS one

The basal ganglia optimize decision making over general perceptual hypotheses
N Lepora, K Gurney (2012) Neural Computation

Efficient fitting of conductance-based model neurons from somatic current clamp
N Lepora, P Overton, K Gurney (2012) Journal of computational neuroscience

A simple method for characterizing passive and active neuronal properties: application to striatal neurons
N Lepora, …, K Gurney (2011) European Journal of Neuroscience