Stanford University's Bao Research Group unveiled the development of their electronic skin as a groundbreaking effort that has the potential to change lives, specifically for those who rely on prosthetic limbs. Per the Mercury News, the scientists have gotten one step closer to making this a reality for millions, by creating an electronic skin that can directly communicate with the brain, imitating sensory feedback provided by real skin, which is essential for tasks as simple as feeling or grasping an object, making this an essential and critical advancement in the field of prosthetics. Mercury News.
The research, originally published in the renowned scientific journal Nature, revealed that the Stanford team, led by chemical engineering professor Zhenan Bao and researcher Weichen Wang, succeeded in developing a soft and stretchable electronic skin, also known as e-skin. The wearable technology uses networked layers of stretchable organic transistors that not only perceive but also transmit electrical signals directly to the brain when sandwiched, as reported in a recent Science journal publication and a Stanford University press release.
The new e-skin is not only soft and stretchy like biological skin, but it is also much faster, larger, and more sophisticated than previous attempts, meaning that it could hold great promise for future advancements in both prosthetics and robotics, leading to a more natural quality of life for amputees and increased safety in industries that require physical interactions between humans and robots, according to the same Mercury News article and a piece by MIT Technology Review.
Remarkably, the e-skin not only can sense pressure, temperature, and strain, but it can also sense chemicals, making it adaptable to various situations, with its network of sensors engineered to send electrical pulses to the brain in a manner similar to natural nervous system signals, and all of this can be achieved with only 5 volts of electricity, as reported in the aforementioned Stanford University press release and another article by Yahoo Finance.
Although e-skin technology is still in its infancy, especially with regards to its practical application and the need for the transmission of signals to be sped up, the success of the Stanford team in building flexible electronics marks a significant step forward in the field, according to Ravinder Dahiya, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University, as quoted in the Mercury News.
In addition to its potential applications in artificial prosthetics, the e-skin could prove vital in developing robots that feel sensations in the same way humans do, and although the technology needs more advancements to fully realize all its potentials, the continuous development in this field has sparked excitement and anticipation, with efforts now focused on scaling up the e-skin to replicate even more sensations felt by the human hand, according to the original Mercury News article and Weichen Wang, the engineering PhD and first author on the new paper.
Much work is yet to be done before the e-skin can be integrated into prosthetic limbs or robotic systems in a practical and functional manner, but the field has made incredible strides in recent years, with researchers around the world continuously seeking ways to create better artificial skin and potentially revolutionize the industry, as reported earlier this year in research conducted at the University of Edinburgh and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), proving that the pursuit of electronic skin is not only important but also absolutely essential for the betterment of human life, whether through improved prosthetic devices or advanced robotic systems that interact seamlessly with their human counterparts.
