Soon your robot can tell via touch! Unfortunately, this research seems to be too anthropomorphic!
"... Now, the authors of a new Science study have successfully replicated skin’s complex, three-dimensional architecture. Their invention, nicknamed 3DAE-Skin, consists of three thin, flexible layers embedded with electronic circuits and sensors that mimic the distribution of Merkel cells and Ruffini endings. These sensors detect various types of stress and strain and convert them to electrical signals, which, when guided by artificial intelligence, can reveal an object’s shape and texture—including whether it is soft or hard. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Merkel cells and Ruffini endings, which reside at the bottom of the epidermis and within the dermis of human skin, respectively, can perceive external forces and the strain of the skin. Liu et al. designed, fabricateed, and used artificial intelligence–guided signal processing to develop an electronic skin that mimics human mechanosensation. The three-dimensional configuration of pressure and strain sensors and a heterogeneous encapsulation strategy enabled the differentiation of normal or shear forces and induced strain. The authors demonstrated the application of this electronic skin by measuring the freshness of foods such as fruits, cake, and bread through touch-sensitive detection of changes in modulus. ...
Abstract
Human skin sensing of mechanical stimuli originates from transduction of mechanoreceptors that converts external forces into electrical signals. Although imitating the spatial distribution of those mechanoreceptors can enable developments of electronic skins capable of decoupled sensing of normal/shear forces and strains, it remains elusive. We report a three-dimensionally (3D) architected electronic skin (denoted as 3DAE-Skin) with force and strain sensing components arranged in a 3D layout that mimics that of Merkel cells and Ruffini endings in human skin. This 3DAE-Skin shows excellent decoupled sensing performances of normal force, shear force, and strain and enables development of a tactile system for simultaneous modulus/curvature measurements of an object through touch. Demonstrations include rapid modulus measurements of fruits, bread, and cake with various shapes and degrees of freshness."
Zoom-in the natural human skin, and sketch it with intelligent three-dimensional electronics (original news release) An innovative three-dimensional architected electronic skin that mimics human mechanosensation.
(A) Bio-inspired design of the 3D architected electronic skin (3DAE-skin). (B) 3DAE-skin attached to the finger tip of a robot hand. (C-G) Optical and microscope images of the 3DAE-skin.
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