New E-skin Could Give Robots Human-Like Touch

A new type of artificial skin with a sense of touch that rivals the human variety could lead to next-generation robotic and prosthetic devices. When covered with the electronic skin, or "e-skin" as the researchers call it, robots would be able to touch and move objects with the appropriate force. For example, the e-skin would allow the robot to sense the difference between an egg and a frying pan and adjust the force of its grip accordingly. So far the researchers have made a prototype device and shown that the material can detect a wide range of pressures – 0 to 15 kilopascals, which accounts for typical daily activities. 

The team used a printing process to assemble the nanowires into a thin sheet of plastic. The e-skin was then covered with pressure-sensitive rubber pixels. Each pixel is connected to an electronic “switch” made out of hundreds of nanowires. Touching the e-skin causes the rubber to deform, which “flips” the switch of one of the pixels. The researchers have not yet integrated their e-skin with a computer chip, which would be needed to interpret the information from the electronic switches.

Longer term, the researchers envision the e-skin being used with prosthetic limbs. Instead of a computer chip, however, the electronic skin could interface with the human brain directly.