Human skin is difficult to replicate because it is not only flexible, tactile, but also self-healing. However, scientists’ latest discoveries are endowing robot skins with such characteristics.
Do you think only the skin of living organisms is flexible, pressure resistant, tactile, and self-healing? Recent research findings indicate that robot skin can also, and even perform better than human skin.
Researchers from the University of Glasgow in the UK have developed an electronic robotic skin using graphene that is more sensitive to touch than a human hand.
According to foreign media reports, Professor Ravinder Dahiya from the University of Glasgow stated that the newly developed robotic skin is essentially a tactile sensor that scientists will use to create lighter prosthetics and robots with surface skin that feels softer and more natural to the touch.
And this type of sensor is also the first step towards softer robots and more sensitive touch screen sensors.
This low-power intelligent robot skin is made of a single atomic layer of graphene. The power per square centimeter of the skin is 20 nanowatts, equivalent to the lowest quality photovoltaic cells currently available. Although the energy generated by the photovoltaic cells of the skin cannot be stored yet, the engineering team is exploring ways to transfer unused energy into the cells so that it can be used when needed.
Graphene is currently the thinnest, strongest, and most conductive nano material discovered. Due to its excellent strength, flexibility, conductivity, and other properties, it has broad application potential in fields such as physics, materials science, and electronic information.
In terms of optical properties, research data shows that single-layer graphene has a vertical absorption rate of only 2.3% for visible and near-infrared light.
How to let sunlight pass through the skin covering the photovoltaic cells is our real challenge, “Ravinder said in” Advanced Functional Materials（
Advanced Functional Materials is represented.
Regardless of the type of light, 98% can reach solar cells, “Dahiya explained to BBC, stating that the electrical energy generated by solar cells is used to generate touch. Its tactile sensation is an order of magnitude better than human skin
The skin provides the robot arm with the necessary pressure feedback, allowing it to better control the force of grasping objects, even fragile eggs can be picked up and put down steadily.
Dahiya said, “The next step is to develop power generation technology that supports this research and use it to drive the motor of the prosthetic hand, which can allow us to create a fully energy autonomous prosthetic
In addition, this high-performance robot skin is not expensive, Dahiya said, and the new skin of 5-10 square centimeters only costs $1. In fact, graphene can do much more than just give robotic arms a sharp touch, it can also help the robot’s skin heal on its own.
According to Futurism, Indian scientists in a journal
The latest research published in Open Physics has found that graphene has powerful self-healing capabilities. Scientists hope to apply this feature to the field of sensors, so that robots can also have skin self repair function like humans.
Traditional metal robot skin has poor extensibility and is prone to cracking and damage. However, if sub nano sensors made of graphene can sense cracks, then robotic skin can prevent cracks from further expanding and even repair them. Research data shows that when the crack exceeds the critical displacement threshold, the automatic repair function will automatically activate.
We hope to observe the self-healing behavior of pristine and defective single-layer graphene through molecular dynamics simulations, as well as the performance of graphene in the crack localization process of sub nano sensors. “In an interview, the main author of the paper, Swati Ghosh Acharyya, stated,” We were able to observe the self-healing behavior of graphene at room temperature without any external stimuli
Researchers from India have stated that this technology will be rapidly applied and may be the next generation of robots.
November 11, 2021
