Stretchy synthetic skin has sense of touch and warmth
Friday, 2 January 2015 00:00
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Reuters: Researchers in South Korea say they have created a ‘smart’ artificial skin that mimics human skin’s sense of touch.
The ultra-thin stretchy skin developed by researchers at South Korea’s Seoul National University can sense pressure, heat and humidity.
“We developed the synthetic skin which has the sense of feeling that exactly copies human skin. The skin can feel pressure, temperature, strain, humidity. Also it is soft just like human skin and embedded with heating elements that can make itself warm,” Seoul National University Professor Kim Dae-Hyeong told Reuters.
Heating the material makes the skin feel more like human tissue. The developers attempted to match the temperature profile of the skin to that of the human body.
Researchers have tested it on a prosthetic hand, using its various layers to simulate human skin.
“The bottom layer of skin is rubbery material that can express the softness of human skin. Above the rubber layer, there is ultra thin polyimide and then silicon, which acts as sensors,” Kim said.
Embedded in the synthetic skin are silicon nanoribbons that generate electricity when the material is flexed, sensing pressure and heat. Capacitors are used to detect humidity
While this is not the first prosthetic skin to be developed, it is the first to try to create the sense of touch and the developers hope the smart skin will be able to send messages to the brain.
“To copy actual human skin, sensing signals measured from the synthetic skin should be delivered to the central nervous system via the peripheral nervous system. Therefore, we made a stretchable electronic array and effectively injected pressure and strain signals to the peripheral nerves,” Kim explained.
“We’ve found out those signals are delivered to brain through the spinal cord,” he added.
The research team said their ultimate goal is to develop a skin prosthesis for amputees which would allow them to feel various types of stimuli.
“I hope a robotic limb with this synthetic skin can be used by disabled people. For industrial uses, it can be applied to various types of robots, like a humanoid robot,” Kim said.
Currently researchers have demonstrated their system in small animals.
