Flexible robotic skin brings sense of touch to robots

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Robots are closer to having a sense of touch following the development of low-cost, durable, highly-sensitive robotic ‘skin’ by researchers at Cambridge University and University College London.

Scientists have developed a low-cost, durable, highly-sensitive robotic ‘skin’ that can be added to robotic hands like a glove, enabling robots to detect information about their surroundings in a way that’s similar to humans
Scientists have developed a low-cost, durable, highly-sensitive robotic ‘skin’ that can be added to robotic hands like a glove, enabling robots to detect information about their surroundings in a way that’s similar to humans - Cambridge University

According to the team, the robotic skin can be added to robotic hands like a glove, enabling robots to detect information about their surroundings in a way that is similar to humans.

The flexible, conductive skin is said to be easy to fabricate and can be melted down and formed into a complex shapes. 

The technology senses and processes a range of physical inputs, allowing robots to interact with the physical world more meaningfully.

Unlike other solutions for robotic touch, which typically work via sensors embedded in small areas and require different sensors to detect different types of touch, the whole of the electronic skin is a sensor, bringing it closer to human skin.  

The robotic skin is not as sensitive as human skin but it can reportedly detect signals from over 860,000 pathways in the material, enabling it to recognise different types of touch and pressure.

The researchers used a combination of physical tests and machine learning techniques to help the robotic skin ‘learn’ which of these pathways matter most, so it can sense different types of contact more efficiently. The results are reported in Science Robotics.

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Robotic Skin