A new study suggests humans can sense hidden objects without touching them, by detecting faint movements in sand. This unexpected form of “remote touch” challenges traditional ideas about how the sense of touch works.
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This is the first report of remote touch in humans. It changes how we understand the human perceptual world and may have applications in robotics and assistive technologies, including exploration, search and rescue, and archaeology.
Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and University College London have uncovered evidence that humans possess a previously unrecognized sensory ability known as remote touch. This refers to the capacity to detect objects without making direct contact, a skill already documented in certain animal species.
Touch in humans is usually described as a short-range sense that depends on physical contact. Yet studies of animal perception have begun to challenge that assumption. Some shorebirds, including sandpipers and plovers, can locate prey buried beneath sand by sensing subtle mechanical disturbances in the grains around it (du Toit et al. 2020; de Fouw et al. 2016). This process, known as remote touch, relies on detecting tiny changes in pressure and movement transmitted through granular materials when something nearby shifts.
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To test whether humans share a similar ability, the research team conducted experiments reported at the IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL). Participants were asked to gently move their fingers through sand to find a hidden cube before physically touching it.
The results showed that people could reliably sense the object’s presence in advance, demonstrating a capacity comparable to that seen in shorebirds, even though humans lack the specialized anatomical structures birds use for this task.
To test whether humans share a similar ability, the research team conducted experiments reported at the IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL). Participants were asked to gently move their fingers through sand to find a hidden cube before physically touching it.
The results showed that people could reliably sense the object’s presence in advance, demonstrating a capacity comparable to that seen in shorebirds, even though humans lack the specialized anatomical structures birds use for this task.
Results show human hands have more sensitivity than expected
Further analysis revealed why this is possible. By modeling the underlying physics, the researchers found that the human hand is far more sensitive than previously believed. Participants were able to perceive extremely small shifts in the sand caused by the buried object. This level of sensitivity comes close to the theoretical physical limit for detecting mechanical reflections in granular material, where moving sand subtly changes direction or resistance when it encounters a stable surface beneath it.
Do humans or robots perform better on remote touch?
When comparing a human’s performance with a robotic tactile sensor trained using a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) algorithm, humans achieved an impressive 70.7% precision within the expected detectable range. Interestingly, the robot could sense objects from slightly farther distances on average but often produced false positives, yielding only 40% overall precision.
These findings confirm that people can genuinely sense an object before physical contact, a surprising capacity for a sense that is usually concerned with objects that enter in direct contact with us. Both humans and robots performed very close to the maximum sensitivity predicted with physical models and displacement.
Credit: Queen Mary University of London
Why is the study important?
This research reveals that humans can detect objects buried in sand before actual contact, expanding our understanding of how far the sense of touch can reach. It provides quantitative evidence for a tactile skill not previously documented in humans.
The findings also offer valuable benchmarks for improving assistive technology and robotic tactile sensing. By using human perception as a model, engineers can design robotic systems that integrate natural-like touch sensitivity for real-world applications such as probing, excavation, or search tasks where vision is limited.
What are the wider implications?
Elisabetta Versace, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and lead of the Prepared Minds Lab at Queen Mary University of London who conceived the human experiments said: “It’s the first time that remote touch has been studied in humans and it changes our conception of the perceptual world (what is called the “receptive field”) in living beings, including humans.”
Zhengqi Chen, PhD student of Advanced Robotics Lab at Queen Mary University of London said: : “The discovery opens possibilities for designing tools and assistive technologies that extend human tactile perception. These insights could inform the development of advanced robots capable of delicate operations, for example, locating archaeological artifacts without damage, or exploring sandy or granular terrains such as Martian soil or ocean floors. More broadly, this research paves the way for touch-based systems that make hidden or hazardous exploration safer, smarter, and more effective.”
Lorenzo Jamone, Associate Professor in Robotics & AI at University College London, said:
“What makes this research especially exciting is how the human and robotic studies informed each other. The human experiments guided the robot’s learning approach, and the robot’s performance provided new perspectives for interpreting the human data. It’s a great example of how psychology, robotics, and artificial intelligence can come together, showing that multidisciplinary collaboration can spark both fundamental discoveries and technological innovation.”
Why is the study important?
This research reveals that humans can detect objects buried in sand before actual contact, expanding our understanding of how far the sense of touch can reach. It provides quantitative evidence for a tactile skill not previously documented in humans.
The findings also offer valuable benchmarks for improving assistive technology and robotic tactile sensing. By using human perception as a model, engineers can design robotic systems that integrate natural-like touch sensitivity for real-world applications such as probing, excavation, or search tasks where vision is limited.
What are the wider implications?
Elisabetta Versace, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and lead of the Prepared Minds Lab at Queen Mary University of London who conceived the human experiments said: “It’s the first time that remote touch has been studied in humans and it changes our conception of the perceptual world (what is called the “receptive field”) in living beings, including humans.”
Zhengqi Chen, PhD student of Advanced Robotics Lab at Queen Mary University of London said: : “The discovery opens possibilities for designing tools and assistive technologies that extend human tactile perception. These insights could inform the development of advanced robots capable of delicate operations, for example, locating archaeological artifacts without damage, or exploring sandy or granular terrains such as Martian soil or ocean floors. More broadly, this research paves the way for touch-based systems that make hidden or hazardous exploration safer, smarter, and more effective.”
Lorenzo Jamone, Associate Professor in Robotics & AI at University College London, said:
“What makes this research especially exciting is how the human and robotic studies informed each other. The human experiments guided the robot’s learning approach, and the robot’s performance provided new perspectives for interpreting the human data. It’s a great example of how psychology, robotics, and artificial intelligence can come together, showing that multidisciplinary collaboration can spark both fundamental discoveries and technological innovation.”
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