Tactile sensor

A finger assembly for a manipulating apparatus, the finger assembly comprising:

• a rigid body including an aperture;
• a deformable membrane received within the aperture, wherein an exterior surface of the deformable membrane includes a gripping surface arranged to grip an object being manipulated and an interior surface of the deformable element includes visual markers;
• a reflective surface received within the rigid body opposite the deformable membrane so as to reflect an image of the visual markers;
• and
• an optical sensor arranged to view the visual markers on the interior surface of the deformable membrane and a reflected image of the visual markers so as to provide a stereoscopic view of the visual markers.