Scientists develop new form of Artificial Skin

photo found on telegraph.co.uk

One of the biggest problems with robots and prosthetics has been developing a feel for the outer skin layer. People normally know how something feels and how much pressure they should exert when gripping something. A team at University of California, Berkeley has come up with a new “thin flexible material that is embedded with microscopic wire semiconductors giving it the ability to ‘feel’”.

This sounds like an amazing break through when it comes to teaching robots or prosthetic limbs the way we feel things when a person picks up a softball or something as fragile as a wine glass. It gives them the ability to feel how much pressure is required. One of the examples they give it the ability for a robot to do dishes without destroying everything fragile.

I like to think more about the ability to give people with prosthetic limbs another way to connect back to the feeling sensations they used to have in the past. Imagine being able to feel again. I think for many people that ability alone is priceless, especially when you think of the feeling we all do when we touch someone we love, from holding their hands to touching their face. There is no other feeling like it.

Artificial skin developed by scientists, telegraph.co.uk

Researchers Develop Touch-Sensitive 'e-Skin', Bloomberg Businessweek

Sensitive touch for 'robot skin', BBC News, Technology

Don't Fire the Maid just Yet

Researchers at UC Berkeley have taught a robot to roam around the office and fold towels too. Check out the video and see the Robot at work. Now if they could teach him how to do beds and clothing I think they would have an awesome product for the consumer market.

This might be a great item to have in retail stores. I can remember many times walking into a men's department seeing sweaters and shirts all over the place. Imagine having a robot like this that drives around the store, then when it sees no one there, rolls over and folds things back up and puts them in their proper place.

The store could set up the shelf's with RFID tags and make the clothing have matching tags on the price tag so it knows where to place things. Plus, you can have an inventory counter there too, so as he rolls around he can take a live merchandise count of what is in stock and what needs to be re-ordered.

Then, in the store you could have various Wi-Fi points where these machines can also send and receive updates and information. This could really make stores a lot more efficient and also have sales people working the floor, instead of spending time folding clothing over and over again. It frees them up to look for new customers and better serve the consumer.