For many decades robots have outclassed humans in terms of strength and precision, yet their rudimentary ability to sense and understand the world around them has limited their widespread adoption. But thanks to the work of engineers like Dr. Heba Khamis, the robots are catching up fast. Only three years ago, Dr. Khamis was a lecturer and post-doctoral researcher working at the intersection of sensing, software and robotics. But when she and her colleagues attended a CSIRO accelerator course, it helped them realise the commercial potential of one of the sensors they had been developing, and set them on a path to venture beyond the walls of academia.Heba is now the co-founder and CEO of Contactile - a startup whose a revolutionary sensor design promises to change the way robots feel their environment, opening up applications in sensitive handling tasks from fruit picking to underwater manipulation.Listen in for the very latest from this fast-moving startup.  GUEST : Dr. Heba Khamishttps://www.linkedin.com/in/hebakhamis/ CONTACTILEhttps://contactile.com/ EON LABS : https://www.eonlabs.org/ HOST :Dr. Leo Stevenshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/leostevensinc/ MUSIC :Purple Planet Musichttps://www.purple-planet.comMixed by Dr. Nat Harris