Our artificial whiskers comprise two perpendicular channels. This allows us to recognize the vertical shape of objects by observing the time course of the two channels (X, Y) during protraction / retraction while the whisker slides along the surface. Alternatively, several whiskers arranged perpendicularly to the sweeping plane will detect differences in contact time and deflection amplitude, thus providing information on the vertical shape of objects (e.g. cone vs. Inverted cone). We summarize that an active whisking strategy can reveal a high amount of information on the distance and shape of an object.