Photos: Humanoid robots come to life at MIT

Torres-Jara has created Obrero to be so sensitive it can gently pick up an egg, applying the exact amount of pressure needed to hold the round object without dropping it or crushing it.

"People have mostly focused on vision, but we've found that humans don't really rely on vision 100 percent. They use their hands. So, Obrero uses tactile feedback instead to figure out where an object is and detect things like slippage," Torres-Jara said.

Photo by Eduardo Torres-Jara