Miranda Lowther is a PhD researcher at the FARSCOPE-TU Centre for Doctoral Training, a joint venture between University of Bristol, University of West of England, and Bristol Robotics Laboratory, where she is pursuing her passion for using soft robotics and morphological computation to help people in healthcare. For her PhD, she is investigating how soft e-skins and morphological computation concepts can be used to improve prosthetic user health, comfort, and quality of life, through sensing and adaptation.

Flexible electronic skins that simultaneously sense touch and bend are desired in several application areas, such as to cover articulated robot structures. This paper introduces a flexible tactile sensor based on Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT), capable of simultaneously detecting and measuring contact forces and flexion of the sensor. The sensor integrates a magnetic hydrogel composite and utilizes EIT to reconstruct internal conductivity distributions. Real-time estimation is achieved through the one-step Gauss-Newton method, which dynamically updates reference voltages to accommodate sensor deformation. A convolutional neural network is employed to classify interactions, distinguishing between touch, bending, and idle states using pre-reconstructed images. Experimental results demonstrate an average touch localization error of 5.4 mm (SD 2.2 mm) and average bending angle estimation errors of 1.9$^\circ$ (SD 1.6$^\circ$). The proposed adaptive reference method effectively distinguishes between single- and multi-touch scenarios while compensating for deformation effects. This makes the sensor a promising solution for multimodal sensing in robotics and human-robot collaboration.

To foster an immersive and natural human-robot interaction, the implementation of tactile perception and feedback becomes imperative, effectively bridging the conventional sensory gap. In this paper, we propose a dual-modal electronic skin (e-skin) that integrates magnetic tactile sensing and vibration feedback for enhanced human-robot interaction. The dual-modal tactile e-skin offers multi-functional tactile sensing and programmable haptic feedback, underpinned by a layered structure comprised of flexible magnetic films, soft silicone, a Hall sensor and actuator array, and a microcontroller unit. The e-skin captures the magnetic field changes caused by subtle deformations through Hall sensors, employing deep learning for accurate tactile perception. Simultaneously, the actuator array generates mechanical vibrations to facilitate haptic feedback, delivering diverse mechanical stimuli. Notably, the dual-modal e-skin is capable of transmitting tactile information bidirectionally, enabling object recognition and fine-weighing operations. This bidirectional tactile interaction framework will enhance the immersion and efficiency of interactions between humans and robots.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh invented electronic skin that can allow robots to feel just like humans.

Robots have mastered sight and sound, and new technology is helping them fine-tune their sense of touch for a surprising use case. With a background in electronics, engineering, and bionanotechnology, Dr. Atif Syed was fascinated with nano-scale devices that can have a massive impact on processes. This focus led Syed, the CEO of Wootzano, a UK-based robotics company, to create an electronic skin for robots that enables awareness of pressure sensitive contact. "I knew that one of the biggest issues was giving robots the sense of real touch like humans have," he explains. "The electronic skin sensors can feel how much force is applied and the exact direction of a motion. The most interesting part is that this capability is on a completely stretchable material."

Fork in hand, a robot arm skewers a strawberry from above and delivers it to Tyler Schrenk's mouth. Sitting in his wheelchair, Schrenk nudges his neck forward to take a bite. Next, the arm goes for a slice of banana, then a carrot. Each motion it performs by itself, on Schrenk's spoken command. For Schrenk, who became paralysed from the neck down after a diving accident in 2012, such a device would make a huge difference in his daily life if it were in his home. "Getting used to someone else feeding me was one of the strangest things I had to transition to," he says.

It may sound a little unsettling and perhaps more akin to a dystopian sci-fi thriller. But robots could soon feel pain thanks to the development of a new electronic skin which can mimic uncomfortable sensations. The scientists behind the invention say a mechanical hand fitted with the smart skin showed a remarkable ability to learn to react to external stimuli such as a jab in the palm. It uses a new type of processing system based on'synaptic transistors, which mimics the brain's neural pathways in order to learn' to feel pain. Experts have been working for decades to build artificial skin with touch sensitivity, with one widely-explored method featuring an array of contact sensors across an electronic skin's surface to allow it detect when it comes into contact with an object.

The idea of a robot with hairy arms may sound like a concept from the latest science fiction blockbuster. But the bizarre invention could soon become a reality, as scientists have taken a major step forward in the development of electronic skin with integrated artificial hairs. Hairs allow for'natural touch' and let us detect different sensations such as rough and smooth, as well as the direction the touch is coming from. Researchers from Chemnitz University of Technology say the'e-skin' could have a range of uses in the future, including skin replacement for humans and artificial skin for humanoid robots. Researchers from Chemnitz University of Technology say the'e-skin' could have a range of uses in the future, including skin replacement for humans and artificial skin for humanoid robots Touch is the least understood of our senses, but a 2011 study revealed that specialised neurons in hair follicles each work as individual sensory organs, tuned to register different types of touch.

Robots and machines are getting smarter with the advancement of artificial intelligence, but they still lack the ability to touch and feel their subtle and complex surroundings like human beings. Now, Singaporean researchers have developed a smart foam that can give machines more than human touch. The artificially innervated foam, or AiFoam – which is soft and feels like a sponge – mimics the human sense of touch, can sense nearby objects without actually touching, and repairs itself when damaged. The technology could be very useful in the creation of robotic arms and prostheses. The researchers say some advanced electronic skins can feel pressure when in direct contact with an object.

AI is driving advancement in robotics and automation. It is perhaps impossible in practice to draw a clear line between AI and physical functions that AI can now manage. In the last ten years (2010-2019), industrial robots' annual installations more than tripled, reaching 381 thousand units in factories worldwide. Globally and in the UK, AI has gone through periods of development and periods of relative stagnation. However, in the longer run, the advances in symbolic programming enabled a greater understanding of high-level problem-solving intelligence, with special progress in tools and techniques to simulate or support complex expert reasoning in relatively well-structured domains – ideal for applications the workplace.