Scientists have developed a new type of electronic skin that mimics the uniqueness of human fingerprints—except it’s even more secure.
This breakthrough could lead to more advanced and personalized robots, smarter security systems, and better interaction between humans and machines.
Human fingerprints are known for being nearly impossible to duplicate. Even identical twins don’t share the same fingerprint patterns.
The chance of two people having the exact same fingerprint is about one in 640 billion.
But researchers led by Professor Kyoseung Sim at UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) have gone even further. They created an artificial fingerprint for electronic skin with a duplication probability that is 10²³² times lower than that of a real human fingerprint.
This electronic skin is made using a flexible material called SEBS (styrene–ethylene–butylene–styrene).
It’s soft, stretchable, and ideal for use on robotic hands. The process to create these ultra-unique patterns involves a bit of clever chemistry.
The scientists treat the SEBS material with a solvent called toluene, then spin it at high speed.
As the solvent quickly evaporates, it causes the surface to wrinkle in a totally random way. These wrinkles form the “fingerprints”—but unlike human ones, they are nearly impossible to reproduce.
In fact, the chance of making the same pattern in just a tiny 1 mm² area is about one in 10⁴³. When this is scaled up to the size of a full fingerprint, the odds of duplication become essentially zero.
That makes this artificial skin more secure than any human biometric system.
Not only is this electronic skin highly secure, but it’s also tough. It can withstand heat, humidity, and physical force without losing its fingerprint structure. This makes it suitable for long-term use on robots and other smart devices.
The researchers showed how the skin can help robots behave more like humans. For example, when placed on a robotic hand, it allowed the robot to recognize surface textures and even avoid touching hot objects—just like a human would. This opens the door to making robots that can sense and respond to the world more intelligently and safely.
According to Professor Sim, the technology could be used in the future for personalized electronic devices, robotic security systems, and advanced human-machine interfaces. The study was a collaboration between researchers in South Korea and the United States and is published in Nature Communications.
This new “fingerprint” skin may one day help robots better understand and safely interact with the world around them—while keeping your data safer than ever.
