Bionic artificial skin returns tactile senses

Damage to nerve tissue causes loss of sensory and cognitive functions that are essential for life-sustaining activities, plus mental and physical distress. If the damage is severe enough that natural healing is not possible, surgical treatment is required to implant artificial skin in the affected area, but artificial skin developed to date has focused on skin regeneration, providing a structure and environment similar to skin tissue, but has not restored sensation to patients.

Now, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has announced that a team led by Dr. Youngmee Jung of the Center for Biomaterials and Dr. Hyunjung Yi of the Post-Silicon Semiconductor Institute, in collaboration with Prof. Ki Jun Yu of Yonsei University and Prof. Tae-il Kim of Sungkyunkwan University, has developed human-implantable tactile smart bionic artificial skin that combines biocompatible materials and a tactile function delivery system implemented with electronic devices.

The artificial skin is a hydrogel composed of collagen and fibrin that can detect small pressure changes by inserting crack-based tactile sensors.