🐱 A whisker 🤖 A touch sensor

sensory hair

6.1

A thin artificial hair on robots or artificial hands that senses touch, air movement and vibration

noun
/ˈsɛn.sə.ri hɛr/

Specialized

: sensor artificial

Researchers fitted the prosthetic hand with several sensory hairs to improve object detection.

Examples

When the drone flew close to foliage, its sensory hair warned the control system of nearby branches.
Engineers are developing sensory hairs for advanced robotic applications.
The robot's sensory hair detects subtle air flow changes to adjust its grip.
The robot's sensory hair detected the slightest changes in pressure.
The robot's sensory hair detects subtle air flow changes to adjust its grip.
Researchers fitted the prosthetic hand with several sensory hairs to improve object detection.
When the drone flew close to foliage, its sensory hair warned the control system of nearby branches.

Surface Forms

sensory hair singular

sensory hairs plural

Morphology

sensory + hair

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'sensory' (relating to sensation) with 'hair' (a filament); it denotes a hair-like structure used for sensing. This adjective+noun composition follows normal English semantics and is likely understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Sensory hair for robots and devices is named after the animal 'whisker': engineers copy a long thin hair that senses touch, air flow, or vibration. That is why the term now means a tiny sensor that helps machines 'feel' their surroundings.