A group of researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, has developed an electronic skin capable of reacting to pain as if it were human skin . The ingenuity would make it possible to improve prostheses, develop non-invasive alternatives to skin grafts and make robotics smarter.
The featured prototype mimics the body’s near-instantaneous feedback response and can react to painful sensations with the same lighting speed as nerve signals travel to the brain.
“We are feeling things through the skin all the time, but our pain response only kicks in at a certain point, such as when we touch something too hot or too sharp. No electronic technology has been able to realistically mimic that sensation of pain so human. Until now, “says Madhu Bhaskaran, principal investigator.
“Our artificial skin reacts instantly when pressure, heat or cold reaches a pain threshold. It is a critical step in the future development of the sophisticated feedback systems we need to deliver truly intelligent prosthetics and intelligent robotics ,” he continues.
And this is not all, the Bhaskaran team has also developed devices that use stretchable electronics that can detect and respond to changes in temperature and pressure . Stretchable electronics is, for us to understand each other, the evolution of electronics that allows creating devices that can be rolled, deformed, stretched … as if they were rubber bands. With further development, stretchable artificial skin could serve as a non-invasive alternative to skin grafts where the traditional approach does not work or cannot be performed. “We need further development to integrate this technology into biomedical applications, but the fundamentals (biocompatibility, skin-like stretching) are already there,” said Bhaskaran.
Three electronic skin technologies
The research, published in Advanced Intelligent Systems and filed as a provisional patent, combines three pioneering technologies previously patented by the team. They are as follows:
– Stretchable electronics , which combines oxide materials with biocompatible silicone to obtain transparent, unbreakable and wearable devices as thin as if they were stickers.
– Temperature reactive coatings that are a thousand times thinner than a human hair. They are made of a material that is transformed by heat.
– Memory that mimics the brain . They have done this with electronic memory cells that mimic the way the brain uses long-term memory to remember and retain previous information.
The pressure sensor prototype combines stretchable electronics and long-term memory cells. The heat sensor integrates, for its part, the coatings reactive to temperature and memory, while the pain sensor integrates all three technologies.
“We have essentially created the first electronic somatosensors, replicating key features of the complex system of neurons, neural pathways and receptors in the body that direct our perception of sensory input,” said PhD researcher Md Ataur Rahman.
“While some existing technologies have used electrical signals to mimic different levels of pain, these new devices can react to actual mechanical pressure, temperature, and pain, and deliver the correct electronic response,” Rahman said. “It means our skin artificial knows the difference between gently touching a pin with your finger or accidentally sticking it with it, a critical distinction that has never been achieved electronically before . “
Referencia: Artificial Somatosensors: Feedback Receptors for Electronic Skins. Md. Ataur Rahman, Sumeet Walia, Sumaiya Naznee, Mohammad Taha, Shruti Nirantar, Fahmida Rahman Madhu Bhaskaran, Sharath Sriram. First published: 01 September 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.202000094
