Stretchable artificial skin will allow robots to feel

Robots that can disable bombs, perform delicate surgery or nimbly handle cooking ingredients could be just around the corner, thanks to a new wonder material. Experts have created an artificial skin from silicon rubber - the same type found in the straps of swimming goggles - that could give machines a human-like sense of touch. Stretchable membranes containing sensors, connected by channels half the width of a human hair, provide tactile feedback on a par with our own. The biologically inspired breakthrough could also be used to create more advanced prosthetic devices, to let people who have lost limbs feel again. Robots that can disable bombs, perform delicate surgery or nimbly handle cooking ingredients could be just around the corner.