Artificial leather provides the feeling of touch in robotic hands

© naftemporiki.gr Artificial leather provides the feeling of touch on robotic hands

Researchers at the University of Houston in the US have reported a major breakthrough in the field of flexible electronics, which can take on the role of artificial leather, allowing a robotic hand to feel the difference between hot and cold – while providing remarkable possibilities to a wide range of biomedical devices.

The research was published in the Journal Science Advances and includes a new mechanism for the production of flexible electronics that could be used for large-scale production. According to Kungjiang Yu, chief editor of the paper, this is the first time a semiconductor is made in the form of a synthetic rubber designed to bend and stretch up to 50% without affecting its functionality.

Yu and the rest of the researchers created the specific electronic skin and used it to show that a robotic hand was able to perceive whether the water in a bowl was hot or frozen. Also, the skin was able to interpret computational signals sent by hand and reproduce them in the sign.

“Robotic skin can translate the gesture into readable letters that can be understood and read by someone like me”,

he added.

As far as the applications of this technology are concerned, the researchers believe that the discovery of a soft, flexible material can be stretched and deformed, will affect future growth in areas such as clothing, medicine, and so on.

Source: www.naftemporiki.gr