The'smart skin' is like a fabric that contains sensors that recognize crucial indications of a human as well as airborne chemicals. Envisioned for a range of applications from baby monitoring to warfare, smart skin applications are expected to grow exponentially in the future. After nearly six years of research at the Technical University of Graz, Italian-born Anna Maria Coclite has developed the'smart skin' for the next generation of artificial intelligence materials. It senses pressure, humidity, and temperature all the while and produces electronic signs. More delicate robots or more AI prostheses will be consequently possible.

A new manufacturing robot equipped with smart'skin' could allow humans to work alongside industrial machines with no barrier in between. Bosch demonstrated how its robotic arm, fitted with the electronic sensor skin, can sense when a human enters the'danger zone' and stop moving before an accident occurs. The technology, revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, could even be incorporated into everyday robotics systems to make them far safer. Bosch demonstrated how its robotic arm, fitted with the electronic sensor skin, can sense when a human enters the'danger zone' and stop moving before an accident occurs'This is how a robot can interact with the human out of a cage,' exhibitor Franz Schmidt told Dailymail.com. 'Normally, it can only act in a cage, so as to not hurt a human.

Endowing robots and prosthetics with a human-like sense of touch could dramatically advance these technologies. Toward this goal, scientists have come up with various smart skins to layer onto devices. But boosting their sensitivity has involved increasing the numbers of electrodes, depending on the size of the skin. This leads to a rise in costs. Other systems require external batteries and wires to operate, which adds to their bulk. Haixia Zhang and colleagues wanted to find a more practical solution.

Smart synthetic skins have the potential to allow robots to touch and sense what's around them, but keeping them powered up and highly sensitive at low cost has been a challenge. Now scientists report in the journal ACS Nano a self-powered, transparent smart skin that is simpler and less costly than many other versions that have been developed. Endowing robots and prosthetics with a human-like sense of touch could dramatically advance these technologies. Toward this goal, scientists have come up with various smart skins to layer onto devices. But boosting their sensitivity has involved increasing the numbers of electrodes, depending on the size of the skin.