Soft electronic skin has achieved a touching breakthrough by directly communicating with the brain.
Engineers have been striving to create artificial electronic skin that replicates the incredible sensory abilities of human touch, and their efforts have yielded soft, flexible materials that mimic individual senses.
However, until now, they have not succeeded in developing a single sheet of skin-like material capable of directly interfacing with the brain.
A team of researchers from Stanford University has shattered this barrier by creating soft integrated circuits that convert sensed pressure or temperature into electrical signals, similar to nerve impulses, for direct communication with the brain.
A man implants a chip with a help of a syringe during a chip implant event in Epicenter, a technological hub in Stockholm on January 18, 2018. - An electronic implant inserted under the skin to replace keys, business cards and train tickets: in Sweden, it is a reality for some thousands of reckless, eager for novelties and indifferent to the potential dangers of the intrusion of technology
Potential Applications
The potential applications of this breakthrough are vast, with the researchers envisioning a future where these signals could be directed to implanted wireless communication chips in peripheral nerves. This would enable amputees to control prosthetic limbs, revolutionizing their quality of life.
Moreover, this technology holds promise for the development of cutting-edge implantable or wearable medical devices.
The primary goal of the team was to create a soft integrated circuit that emulates the mechanisms of sensory receptors at a low voltage.
Initial attempts by the team demanded high voltages, exceeding 30 volts, and failed to achieve the desired circuit functionality. However, the team's new e-skin operates on just 5 volts while accurately detecting stimuli akin to real skin.
The development of artificial skin holds immense significance for next-generation prosthetic limbs.
Artificial skin plays a critical role in modern prosthetic limbs, offering not only restored movement and grasping capabilities but also essential sensory feedback for precise device control.
This requires the sensory-skin material to possess exceptional resilience, allowing it to stretch and return without compromising its nerve-like electrical properties.
To address this challenge, researchers developed a tri-layer dielectric structure that significantly increased the mobility of electrical charge carriers, surpassing the performance of single-layer dielectrics by 30 times.
Notably, one of the layers in this structure utilizes nitrile, the same rubber found in surgical gloves.
Read Also: MIT Engineers Developed Wireless, Wearable Skin-Like Sensors for Health Monitoring
E-Skin
The e-skin mainly consists of skin-like layers incorporating organic nanostructures. These networks maintain their signal transmission capability under strain and can be customized to sense pressure, temperature, strain, and chemicals.
The system successfully integrates sensing, desired electrical, and mechanical attributes of human skin into a resilient and pliable form, according to the team.
This development holds immense potential for next-generation prosthetic skins and cutting-edge human-machine interfaces, enabling a lifelike sense of touch.
After the completion of their prototype, Bao, Wang, and their team set out on a new phase, aiming to enhance the technology's complexity and scalability.
The findings of the team were published in the journal Science.
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