The prospect of creating a robot that would be difficult to distinguish from a living person, became one step closer to reality.
Scientists from several medical institutions in Europe announced the creation of a special touch of the skin with special sensors which is specially designed for humanoid mechanical creatures.
Interestingly, this leather can be formed into virtually any shape and color, resulting in, theoretically, you can copy the facial features the right person.
However, it is important that the sensors of the skin can adhere to the CPU, whereby the machine will gain the opportunity to touch – all the information about touch, temperature changes and injuries to the skin will be transmitted to a Central information hub.
The project, known as OSKIN, was financed by the European Union as a priority and promising direction in the field of robotics. According to experts, they have developed the skin for robots is more than just the outer shell.
“We’ve modeled this skin based on the model of human skin, with exactly the same approach to creating layers and organization of the network of nerve endings, which in this case is replaced by sensors. The first tests of the invention have demonstrated that this skin improves the ability of robots to interact and knowledge of the world. Improving the ability of robots to learn is a critical factor in the creation of humanoid mechanical creatures in the near future” – said Giorgio Rope (Giorgio Cannata) from the University of Genoa.
In addition, scientists are asking regarding the potential of using a new skin in humans. Now the approach itself looks fantastic, because the skin of the robots are absolutely not adapted for such purposes.
“However, there are several theoretical models, implementation of which this technique of therapy is justified. In particular, the establishment of such skin stem cells, we can instead of sensors to grow nerve endings. This can be very useful for patients with severe burns. In fact, here we have created a valuable base for research on skin – in humans we will use exclusively their own biological materials, but we will work on the basis of the developed approach” – noted in the study report.
