PhantomTac: Hijacking Robotic Tactile Systems with Deploy-and-forget Tags
Overview
This research introduces PhantomTac, a physical-layer security attack on magnetic tactile sensors used in robotic manipulation. By attaching a thin, battery-free magnetic tag to an object, an attacker can spoof force readings and compromise robotic control. The attack is 'deploy-and-forget' and can be concealed with a barcode sticker. Real-world evaluations on robotic arms show over 95% attack success rate under certain conditions, with a proposed defense mechanism based on multimodal consistency.
From arXiv Robotics — research abstracts
Event evidence and corrections
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Reported quantity · grasping-position offset: 8 other · Basis not reported
“ss rate exceeding 95% when the grasping-position offset is bounded within 8 mm. Finally, based on the limitations of existing anti-magnetic interference mechanisms, we propose a multimodal-consistency defense mechanism to mitigate such physical-layer security threats.”
Exact source · revision 1Source owner not reported
Reported quantity · tag thickness: 0.5 other · Basis not reported
“physical loophole called PhantomTac in magnetic tactile sensors. The attacker can alter the magnetic field, thus spoofing the force interpreted by magnetic tactile sensors. The attacker can stealthily deploy such an attack by simply attaching a thin (the thickness is around 0.5 mm), battery-free magnetic tag to the surface of an object. Hence, the attack tag can be easily concealed by a barcode sticker. Such an attac”
Exact source · revision 1Source owner not reported
Evidence dependency changes (2)
- 2026-10-30T22:17:29.194Z · evidence updated · source revision 1. Evidence extraction was updated; current source attributions are shown above.
- 2026-10-30T22:17:09.316Z · evidence updated · source revision 1. Evidence extraction was updated; current source attributions are shown above.
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- arXiv Robotics — research abstractsSignalPhantomTac: Hijacking Robotic Tactile Systems with Deploy-and-forget Tags
This research introduces PhantomTac, a physical-layer security attack on magnetic tactile sensors used in robotic manipulation. By attaching a thin, battery-free magnetic tag to an object, an attacker can spoof force readings and compromise robotic control. The attack is 'deploy-and-forget' and can be concealed with a barcode sticker. Real-world evaluations on robotic arms show over 95% attack success rate under certain conditions, with a proposed defense mechanism based on multimodal consistency.
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