Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. One of the major barriers they haven't overcome is the ability to "feel" sensations like a human. Although researchers have tried various sensors to give robots a rudimentary sense of touch, these systems are often costly, inaccurate, and limited to detecting only one type of sensation at a time. But that may be about to change. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and University College London have developed a new type of responsive "synthetic skin."

Tactile sensors can significantly enhance the perception of humanoid robotics systems by providing contact information that facilitates human-like interactions. However, existing commercial tactile sensors focus on improving the resolution and sensitivity of single-modal detection with high-cost components and densely integrated design, incurring complex manufacturing processes and unaffordable prices. In this work, we present Bio-Skin, a cost-effective multi-modal tactile sensor that utilizes single-axis Hall-effect sensors for planar normal force measurement and bar-shape piezo resistors for 2D shear force measurement. A thermistor coupling with a heating wire is integrated into a silicone body to achieve temperature sensation and thermostatic function analogous to human skin. We also present a cross-reference framework to validate the two modalities of the force sensing signal, improving the sensing fidelity in a complex electromagnetic environment. Bio-Skin has a multi-layer design, and each layer is manufactured sequentially and subsequently integrated, thereby offering a fast production pathway. After calibration, Bio-Skin demonstrates performance metrics-including signal-to-range ratio, sampling rate, and measurement range-comparable to current commercial products, with one-tenth of the cost. The sensor's real-world performance is evaluated using an Allegro hand in object grasping tasks, while its temperature regulation functionality was assessed in a material detection task.

Robotics presents a promising opportunity for enhancing bathing assistance, potentially to alleviate labor shortages and reduce care costs, while offering consistent and gentle care for individuals with physical disabilities. However, ensuring flexible and efficient cleaning of the human body poses challenges as it involves direct physical contact between the human and the robot, and necessitates simple, safe, and effective control. In this paper, we introduce a soft, expandable robotic manipulator with embedded capacitive proximity sensing arrays, designed for safe and efficient bathing assistance. We conduct a thorough evaluation of our soft manipulator, comparing it with a baseline rigid end effector in a human study involving 12 participants across $96$ bathing trails. Our soft manipulator achieves an an average cleaning effectiveness of 88.8% on arms and 81.4% on legs, far exceeding the performance of the baseline. Participant feedback further validates the manipulator's ability to maintain safety, comfort, and thorough cleaning.

It might only feel like yesterday that the new iPhone 15 was released, but experts have already begun to image the phones of the future. Using AI imaging, Mobiles.co.uk has predicted five different ways that smartphones might develop in the future From flexible phones to self-repairing devices, your iPhone may one day look and feel a lot different. While some of the ideas might sound like Star Trek props, the experts say these technologies could be just around the corner. So, do you think these ideas are the future of phones, or are they doomed to die on the drawing board? Your phone will be able to bend into new shapes to avoid damage.

A new Terminator-like skin that self-heals could give rise to killer robots. Scientists at Stanford University have developed synthetic skin made of silicone and polypropylene glycol materials that stretch like human skin without tearing, while magnetic properties allow the skin to self-align. When warmed, both polymers soften and flow, solidifying as they cool. When heated to just 158 degrees Fahrenheit, the self-alignment and healing happen in about 24 hours. The team said the skin could lead to'reconfigurable soft robots that can change shape and sense their deformation on demand,' ultimately transforming warfare.

Fox News correspondent Grady Trimble has the latest on fears the technology will spiral out of control on'Special Report.' Robots could soon be cloaked in human-like synthetic skin, similar to the cyborg assassin of the "Terminator" movie franchise, after Stanford University researchers developed an ultra-realistic, self-healing material. Researchers have been studying and developing convincing skin materials for robots for years, with Stanford professor Zhenan Bao touting the first multi-layer self-healing synthetic electronic skin back in 2012. More than a decade later, Bao and fellow researchers have taken their studies even further into the future: layers of synthetic skin that can now self-recognize and align with each other when injured, simultaneously allowing the skin to continue functioning while healing. "We've achieved what we believe to be the first demonstration of a multi-layer, thin film sensor that automatically realigns during healing," Christopher B. Cooper, Stanford Ph.D. student and co-author of the study, told SWNS.

It was created by a team of researchers from Stanford University, who implanted soft e-skin electrodes in the brains of rats and recorded electrical signals from the animals' motor cortex, the region of the brain responsible for carrying out voluntary movements. The animals twitched their legs in response to different levels of pressure recorded by the brain, depending on the strength of the stimulation frequency, demonstrating that the e-skin was able to detect differing levels of pressure in the same way that animals and humans can do ordinarily. The team says the work could lead to better prosthetics and could help create robots that can feel human-like sensations. The research is published in a paper in Science today. "Our dream is to make a whole hand where we have multiple sensors that can sense pressure, strain, temperature, and vibration," says Zhenan Bao, a chemical engineering professor at Stanford University, who worked on the project.

An artificial skin is even better than human skin at sensing objects, because it can detect and identify items that it hasn't touched yet. "Human skin has to touch something to tell it what is there," says Yifan Wang at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. "Human skin can only tell the softness or hardness of an object. We wanted our artificial skin to have more functions." Even without touching an object, Wang and his colleagues' artificial skin can sense if it is close by and can also discern some clues about the type of material it is made of.

Technology is rapidly improving, offering new innovations and revolutionary projects at ever greater speeds. Some very sharp minds out there are continuously developing technology that might completely transform our lives, while others come up with innovations that'merely' enable us to do things a little differently or more efficiently. Many of these new developments seem to have been taken straight from science-fiction, whether it's robot fingers with human skin, colour-changing cars, smart pans that help you stick to your weight loss plans, or AI powered toothbrushes that warn you when you're not cleaning your teeth properly. In this article we will introduce you to some weird – but wonderful – recent innovations and technological advancements. Soon, hyper-realistic robots will join us in various sectors, such as the services industry and in medical and nursing care.

We tend to take our sense of touch for granted in everyday settings, but it is vital for our ability to interact with our surroundings. Imagine reaching into the fridge to grab an egg for breakfast. As your fingers touch its shell, you can tell the egg is cold, that its shell is smooth, and how firmly you need to grip it to avoid crushing it. These are abilities that robots, even those directly controlled by humans, can struggle with. A new artificial skin developed at Caltech can now give robots the ability to sense temperature, pressure, and even toxic chemicals through a simple touch.