Vision-only manipulation is hitting a wall

In 2016, I said something that went against where robotics was heading at the time: vision alone doesn’t work for grasping. Not “it needs improvement.” Not “the tech isn’t there yet.” It doesn’t fit the problem. Grasping is physical. Contact, force, friction. Vision can guide the approach. It can’t feel what happens next. Back then, we saw it in the lab. Tactile vibration data predicted grasp failure with 83% accuracy and detected slip at 92%. Early results, but clear enough. The signals that ma