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    "headline": "The Gecko Gripper Learns Whether It Has Actually Stuck",
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    "dek": "Capacitive sensing and a physics-constrained state machine classify five stages of orbital-contact interaction in real time.",
    "summary": "Capacitive sensing and a physics-constrained state machine classify five stages of orbital-contact interaction in real time.",
    "body_text": "Gecko-inspired dry adhesives can capture surfaces without residue, but many interfaces operate open loop. This sensorized design classifies idle, proximity, contact, engaged and disengaged states from embedded capacitive data. A random forest reached 95.65 percent offline accuracy; online, adding a rule-based state machine raised accuracy from 78.02 to 93.14 percent with a 53-millisecond inference cycle. The evidence comes from the reported interface tests, not an autonomous orbital-servicing mission.",
    "why_it_matters": "Capacitive sensing and a physics-constrained state machine classify five stages of orbital-contact interaction in real time.",
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      "The evidence comes from the reported interface tests, not an autonomous orbital-servicing mission."
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    "first_published_at": "2026-10-21T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-10-21T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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        "qualification": "The evidence comes from the reported interface tests, not an autonomous orbital-servicing mission."
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    "tags": [
      "orbital servicing",
      "adhesion",
      "sensing"
    ],
    "image_url": null,
    "corrections": []
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  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-10-21-012",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2610.27141, original v1",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
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      "published_at": "2026-10-20T13:59:00.000-04:00",
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    "name": "The Machine Press",
    "url": "https://themachinepress.com",
    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "The Gecko Gripper Learns Whether It Has Actually Stuck",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
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