Researchers created an artificial skin for intelligent

University of Houston

Published the 14.09.2017 at 18h25

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A new discovery of size. A team from the University of Houston has developed an artificial skin smart with sensors, able to feel sensations such as cold or hot, but also to transmit information to the holders. These works have been published in the journal Science Advances.

The work describe a new mechanism for producing fabrics, electronic and elastic thanks to a semi-conductive rubber. The device is designed to allow the electronic components to maintain their functionality, even when the material is stretched to 50 %. This semi-conductive wrap that has been prepared using a polymer, silicone, polydimethylsiloxane

Cold, hot

This is the first semi-conductive rubber able to stretch without the need of a mechanical structure, the researchers explain. In effect, the semi-conductor-traditional require a complex system of facilities mechanical, which is both more complicated, less stable and more expensive than the material developed in these works.

The teams have created a skin electronics with this material, they were used to demonstrate the ability of a mechanical hand to feel cold temperatures and hot. The skin and its sensors were also able to interpret the signals sent to the mechanical hand through a computer and to understand the gestures of sign language. “The skin of the robot could translate the gestures into letters that everyone can understand and read,” the researchers explain.

But in reality, the artificial skin is only one possible application of this discovery, which could prove to be useful in many other fields. The researchers believe that a soft material, foldable, stretchable and deformable material could be used for the development of portable devices power soft, which includes medical implants or human-machine interfaces.