Scientists have developed a new type of artificial skin that allows robots to feel both temperature and pressure at the same time, much like human skin.
The breakthrough could help create smarter robots that interact with people and the world more naturally.
The research was led by Professor Seung Hwan Ko and his team at Seoul National University in South Korea.
Their findings were published in the journal Nature Materials.
Human skin is an amazing sensory organ. It can quickly tell whether something is hot or cold, soft or hard, smooth or rough.
It also combines all this information almost instantly, helping us react safely and make decisions. Giving robots this same ability has been a major challenge for scientists.
Most existing robotic skin systems use several different sensors stacked together. One sensor detects pressure, another measures temperature, and others may detect different types of touch.
While this approach works, it also makes the device thicker, more complex, slower, and harder to build. It can also reduce the accuracy of detecting different sensations at exactly the same point.
To solve these problems, the research team created a single, ultrathin sensor that can switch between sensing temperature and sensing pressure. Instead of using several layers, everything is built into one flexible device.
The sensor is made from a tiny network of nanowires with a silver core surrounded by a copper oxide shell. This special design allows the sensor to change between temperature mode and pressure mode 16 times every second.
Because the sensor is so thin, it responds extremely quickly. It can detect pressure in less than a millionth of a second and sense changes in temperature within milliseconds. These fast response times are important for robots that need to react immediately while handling objects or working alongside people.
The researchers combined the sensor with a wireless electronic board and artificial intelligence (AI). The AI learned to recognize different objects by analyzing both temperature and pressure information together.
When the AI used only temperature or only pressure data, it correctly identified objects about 65% of the time. However, when both types of information were combined, the accuracy jumped to 95%. Even when the amount of data was reduced, the system still maintained an impressive accuracy of more than 94%.
The team also tested the technology using a fingertip-sized sensor attached to a wireless device. In this experiment, the system correctly identified 20 common everyday objects with an accuracy of 83%, showing that the technology works well outside the laboratory.
The researchers then expanded the design into a larger sensing array capable of measuring both pressure and temperature across a surface. The resolution was similar to that of human skin, suggesting that future robots could one day have artificial skin covering large areas of their bodies.
This technology could have many practical uses beyond robotics. It may improve prosthetic limbs by giving users a better sense of touch. It could also be used in wearable electronic skin, soft robots, robotic hands that gently grasp fragile objects, and advanced human-machine interfaces.
Professor Ko said the study is the first to show that both temperature and pressure can be measured within a single ultrathin device without stacking multiple sensors. He believes the technology could become a key building block for future robots that can feel and respond to the world almost as naturally as humans.
Source: KSR.
