Touch-sensitive robots coming your way soon

Great, not only do we have ever increasingly realistic robots that would certainly give some of us the creeps, here is word that Stanford researchers have taken yet another step towards the uncanny valley through the use of carbon nanotubes – by developing touch-sensitive, gooey skin for AI sensing, prosthetics, and who knows – robots? Such skin will deliver robots the touch-sensitivity that has long been in the realm of science fiction, as well as enable patients to regain feeling in their artificial limbs.

According to Darren Lipomi, a postdoctoral researcher in Bao’s lab, who is part of the research team, “This sensor can register pressure ranging from a firm pinch between your thumb and forefinger to twice the pressure exerted by an elephant standing on one foot.”

The sensors on the skin will register an electrical charge when you push or pull it, where these changes in charge can then be used to sense just where and how the skin is being touched.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Robots
Tags: Robot, Robotics, Robots, skin