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.

According to an article published last week to the journal of Soft Robotics, scientists based out of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed a skin-like material that, when worn over a users' body, simulates a far more realistic sense of touch than that of current haptic feedback technologies. Referred to as "Closed-Loop Haptic Feedback Control Using a Self-Sensing Soft Pneumatic Actuator Skin," the device is composed of a stretchable material only 500 nanometers thick, allowing it to form to a users body. Lined with a series of pneumatic actuators, the ultra-compliant thin-metal film strain sensor creates a highy-realistic tactile sense via vibratory feedback. Put simply, the "skin" uses pressure triggered by inflated membranes to create a sense of touch far more realistic than that of current haptic feedback solutions, which rely primarily on mechanical vibration technology to replicate a sense of impact. This layer of membrane can be altered to various pressures and frequencies by pumping air into it; deflating and inflating the membrane rapidly will cause the skin to vibrate.