"Sensitive" Skin for Robots

lperdue writes "One of the big problems with making robots more in tune with their environment is the lack of a "skin" with many, many embedded sensors --like we have as humans. Now, New Scientist is reporting that electrical engineers Sigurd Wagner and Stephanie Lacour from Princeton University have developed g a prototype using corrugated gold foil in an elastic matrix that could do the job."

Comments

Bender Says:

[foistboinder]

"Bite my corrugated gold foil in an elastic matrix ass"

Re:Bender Says:

[Seregi]

Aren't robots invinseble anymore? So there won't be Matrix 'cause where still able to beat them? But how long it will be untill there are robots, which have deep feelings? Do they have human..sorry robotrights then?

Obligatory Austin Powers Quote:

[kenthorvath]

He had the Midas touch,
but he touched it too much,
Hey Gold Member! Hey Gold Member!

Never gonna work

[greenhide]

The Borg Queen tried this on Data. But in the end, his loyalty to Starfleet was greater.

Only by instilling the concepts of loyalty and respect can we expect any good behavior from our robots.

Sensitive skin

[pmz]

How long until we see a robot at the drug store pondering what kind of condoms to buy?

corrugated gold foil?

[arrow]

Does sounds way too expensive to be practical. But other than that quite impressive.

gold foils are a bit pricey

[aminorex]

I like to use the conductive, compressible
foam used for packing electronic parts.
This stuff is essentially free, and comes
in convenient sheets, suitable for skinning
over your manipulator.

It works like so: The resistance of the foam
changes when it is compressed, so you add
lots and lots of little wires, glued to the
foam with a conductive glue, and monitor
the resistance between pairs. This is a
crude pressure sensor. It's good enough
to modulate the grip energy of a tactile
robot for shaking hands with a human, or
picking up a drinking glass.

For more refined, quality-controlled results,
you would want something a bit more upscale.

obvious

[pizza_milkshake]

this feature was lobbied furiously for by the Determitologists of America. in a future controlled by robots, determatologists will need work.

Determine-ologists?

[jonskerr]

Do you mean dermitologists, ie skin-doctors?

The purpose of pain

[yerricde]

Feeling pain helps a being learn how to avoid damage to its body.

Big problem?

[zero_offset]

Since when was this a "big problem"? First I've heard of it. If you think about it, your skin actually plays a pretty minor role in your interaction with the environment, with the obvious exception of your hands and fingers, and maybe at a gross scale for things like monitoring temperature, which could be easily performed by individual sensors.

Re:Big problem?

[Theobon]

Skin is a major problem. Second to vision. If you have ever met someone that has lost there sense of touch you will realize how much you need it. It is very elaborate way of measuring pressure and danger. Far easier than trying to constantly "Watch" everything. Try think about how you could preform a hand shake properly without skin.

Re:Big problem?

[zero_offset]

For a person, sure. But for robotics? I don't believe it's been identified as a big problem.

I could be wrong, but my wife and I have dabbled in robotics for many years, and as I said, other than grip-related scenarios, I haven't ever heard it even mentioned with any regularity.