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Electronic "Hair" Could Give Robots a More Human Sense of Touch

Electronic-skin prototypes are stretchy, thin films that can sense temperature, pressure, and even monitor blood oxygen or alcohol levels. But most of these devices are missing a key feature of real skin that allows us to feel a wider range of conditions - hair. Now, researchers from China's Harbin Institute of Technology have combined hair-like wires with electronic skin to make a more versatile sensor for robots, prosthetics, and other applications. The researchers created an array of artificial hairs with glass-coated, cobalt-based microwires and embedded the ends of the wires in a silicon-rubber 'skin.' This hairy skin could repeatedly detect a range of pressures, including the landing of a fly, a light wind, and a ten-pound weight. When used with a two-finger robot gripping a plastic block, the new sensor could 'feel' slip and friction forces.

Topics:
Automation Electronics & Computers Implants & Prosthetics Materials Medical Motion Control Robotics Semiconductors & ICs Sensors

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    Transcript

    00:00:01 robots just keep getting smarter and more human-like every day and now scientists are working to add yet another feature to robots to mimic us even more closely hair fine hairs cover 95% of the human body and help us feel the slightest pressure on our skin such as that from a light Breeze to endow robots and Prosthetics with that level of sensitivity researchers have combined

    00:00:22 hair-like wires with electronic skin to make a new sensor their report appears in the journal ACS Applied Materials and interfaces Rangell Lee Fang how and colleagues at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China created an array of artificial hairs using pressure sensitive magnetic microwires made from glass-coated cobalt-based fibers the team embedded the ends of the wires in a

    00:00:43 silicon rubber skin the hairy skin could repeatedly detect a range of pressures including the landing of a fly a light wind and a 10-lb weight here you see a robot gripper equipped with a new sensor feeling the slight forces exerted on it by a tissue this level of sensitivity means that a robot holding something could feel it slipping from its grasp and grab on a little tighter an ability

    00:01:04 that could enable future robots or Prosthetics to handle delicate tasks currently out of their reach