Making Skin for Robots

Stretchy circuits promise sensitive skin for robots

By Lisa Katayama Posted 10.10.2008 at 10:14 am 3 Comments

Helping Hand Takao Someya Group/University of Tokyo

Like it or not, the day is coming when we’ll live side by side with humanoids. But although most modern robots can grip objects and avoid walls, they lack a vital quality in any companion: feeling. They don’t need to get your jokes or sense that you had a bad day, but without all-over sensors that can detect things like motion and body heat, there’s nothing to tell them that, for instance, they’re stepping on the baby.

Smart Skin: A sample of rubber-like circuits that can twist, stretch and bend without losing conductivity. Takao Someya Group/University of Tokyo

That’s about to change. In August, University of Tokyo researcher Takao Someya made elastic conductors that could someday give robots humanlike skin. Until now, no one had succeeded in combining the conductivity of metals with the flexibility of rubber—most elastic materials have near-zero conductivity. The new skin combines a salty liquid with malleable single-walled carbon nanotubes that can stretch to 134 percent their original size and improve conductivity by 570 percent. Equipped with sensors, the material could detect pressure and heat to recognize a tap on the shoulder or gauge the strength of someone’s grip.

The same technology could be applied to such things as steering wheels to measure a driver’s grip to detect drowsiness. It could also be used in electronics, creating simpler iPod controls or expanding computer screens. The fabric needs further development—Someya is still trying to figure out how to sustain softness and elasticity in the rubber without compromising conductivity—but he expects to work out the kinks and start incorporating his robot skin into humanoids within five years.

Previous Article: Let the Record Speak: Obama and McCain Tackle Science Education

Next Article: Wriggling Away From Cancer

3 Comments

link to this comment

drchirag

from shenyang, liaoning

10/10/08 at 10:01 pm

it't time to do excellent for future.......
robotic future is coming......

link to this comment

Chipper Smoltz

10/12/08 at 11:16 pm

The material that they invented could be used for other things aside from making robotic skin....I imagine that it could be integrated with the HAL robotic suit and make a nice suit for space exploration or for the people that the HAL suit would benefit greatly from.

Imagine a robotic arm or leg in place of a real one, this would help that robotic limb in controlling of exerting too much pressure on something it is gripping thus making it sensitive to things being touched or handled - with just the right amount of "gripping" needed without damaging a thing by exerting too much force

For practical purposes it could be used as a sophisticated heat sensor as well, like when used in combination with a smoke detector, it could actually tell whether there's a fire (coz of the heat) or if its just plain smoke though I believe there are things such as heat sensors but this one is different in such a way that it stretches and is elastic making it better for such places where its uniqueness can be best be exploited upon.

link to this comment

Deathbagel

10/16/08 at 7:30 am

Fantastic topic, I'd love to see more domestic robots, or at least showcase ones that are actually usefull.
I just wish they had given it a bigger article.