Robots With Human Skin-like Sensitivity in the Offing

Japanese researchers have proposed an idea to use stretchy circuits made from rubber and nanotubes to create an "e-skin", which will be flexible enough to completely cover a robot without limiting its movement.

"Without human skin-like sensitivity, robots cannot be used in everyday life. Imagine the danger if a robot did not recognise when it had accidentally bumped into a young child," New Scientist magazine quoted Takao Someya of the University of Tokyo as saying.

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He has already developed a rubbery conductor, that can be stretched by 38 per cent without any drop in its conductivity.

He says that a net of it was still working after being stretched by 134 per cent, though with a drop in conductivity.

Someya has revealed that the new material is made by mixing conducting carbon nanotubes with rubber.

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To prevent the nanotubes clumping together, the researchers have devised a technique that uses an iconic liquid, consisting of charged ions and not molecules like most liquids.

The novel technique allows the researchers to add more nanotubes without fear that a high density of them would form lumps.

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The final material is around 20 per cent nanotubes by weight, and current flows through it by hopping from nanotube to nanotube.

Someya says that the time during which a route across the material exists when it is stretched and the tubes are pulled apart is maximised by using long nanotubes.

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"In any area where you need electronics that can stretch and bend without compromising performance, for example in wearable electronics to monitor movement, this is going to be quite a breakthrough," says Gordon Wallace of the University of Wollongong, Australia.

Someya believes that the nanotube-based conductor is likely to be more physically robust, a requirement for applications like an e-skin in which speed is not critical.

He also says that the material is cheaper to make because the rubber and nanotube solution can be printed out in sheets.

A research article has been published in the journal Science.

Source-ANI
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