I did some robotics tactile research, it was super fun! We used "biotac" sensors, which are very capable, but are 1) crazy expensive and 2) crazy hard to replace the skins, which do wear out.
One advantage biotacs have over these is that I can send a guy a (very large) check and buy them. Most academically-sourced things like this cannot be gotten for any price. These look cool, I'd love to have a few.
Seems like you could make the skin pretty straightforwardly in a home-shop. You'd just need to 3d print TPU and embed some high quality magnets (you can remagnetize your own pretty easily probably, not cheaply though? https://www.magnet-physik.de/en/magnetizing-technology/magne...)
One advantage biotacs have over these is that I can send a guy a (very large) check and buy them. Most academically-sourced things like this cannot be gotten for any price. These look cool, I'd love to have a few.