This sensor skin can help robots perform everyday tasks

New York Oct 18 (IANS) Researchers have developed a flexible sensor "skin" that can be wrapped around a finger or any other part of a robot or prosthetic device to help convey a sense of touch enabling them to perform everything from surgical and industrial procedures to cleaning a kitchen.

The bio-inspired robot sensor skin mimics the way a human finger experiences tension and compression as it slides along a surface or distinguishes among different textures and can detect tiny vibrations at 800 times per second better than human fingers.

The study detailed in the journal Sensors and Actuators A: Physical demonstrated that the physically robust and chemically resistant sensor skin could vastly improve the ability of robots to perform everything from surgical and industrial procedures to cleaning a kitchen opening a door interacting with a phone shaking hands picking up packages and handling objects among others.

"By mimicking human physiology in a flexible electronic skin we have achieved a level of sensitivity and precision that s consistent with human hands which is an important breakthrough " said Jonathan Posner Professor at University of Washington.

"The sense of touch is critical for both prosthetic and robotic applications and that s what we re ultimately creating " Posner added.

The stretchable electronic skin is made from the same silicon rubber used in swimming goggles.

The rubber is embedded with tiny serpentine channels -- roughly half the width of a human hair -- filled with electrically conductive liquid metal that won t crack or fatigue when the skin is stretched as solid wires would do.

When the skin is placed around a robot finger or end effector these microfluidic channels are strategically placed on either side of where a human fingernail would be.

--IANS
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