Systems and methods for tactile intelligence

A system for geometric surface characterization, comprising:

• a. a deformable transmissive layer coupled to a mounting structure and to an interface membrane, wherein the interface membrane is interfaced against at least one aspect of an interfaced object having a surface to be characterized;
• b. a first illumination source operatively coupled to the deformable transmissive layer using a lighting control layer, the lighting control layer configured to emit first illumination light into the deformable transmissive layer at one or more known first illumination orientations relative to the deformable transmissive layer, such that at least a portion of the first illumination light interacts with the deformable transmissive layer;
• c. a detector configured to detect light from within at least a portion of the deformable transmissive layer;
• d. a metasurface layer comprising a plurality of metasurface elements of known geometry, the metasurface layer coupled to the deformable transmissive layer and configured to interact, at least in part, with the first illumination light;
• e. a computing system configured to operate the detector to detect at least a portion of light directed from the deformable transmissive layer, to determine surface orientations pertaining to positions along the interface membrane based at least in part upon interaction of the first illumination light with the deformable transmissive layer, and to utilize the determined surface orientations to characterize a geometric profile of the surface of the object as interfaced against the interface membrane;
• and
• f. a robotic manipulator operatively coupled to the computing system and deformable transmissive layer, the robotic manipulator configured to controllably position and orient the deformable transmissive layer relative to the interfaced object such that the computing system may characterize the geometric profile of the surface of the interfaced object as interfaced against the interface membrane with regard to the relative position and orientation of the deformable transmissive layer and the interfaced object.