China first developed a robotic tactile sensor for monitoring "three-dimensional force"

Recently, Hefei Intelligent Machinery Research Institute and Hefei University of Technology jointly developed a new type of "artificial skin". This is the first robotic tactile sensor developed in China to monitor "three-dimensional force." What kind of advantage does this skin have? Where can I get it?

The so-called "artificial skin" that can detect three-dimensional forces, that is, can detect the specific force point and the force in three directions in real time. It includes not only the vertical pressure but also the lateral friction force. It integrates the application of materials science, nanotechnology, sensing technology and artificial intelligence theory.

"'Artificial skin' is a 'skin' for intelligent robots that provides robots with tactile information and is a skin-like array of tactile sensors that can sense the force information exerted on the 'skin' by the outside world." Ge Yunjian, a researcher at the Institute of Intelligent Machinery at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "The reason why we have studied the 'artificial skin' is extraordinary because it can continuously detect force information from multiple directions acting on its surface."

"In contrast to the previous generation of robots, 'artificial skin', the previous robot skin could only detect one-dimensional force, that is, force from one direction. To achieve the ability to detect three-dimensional forces, 'artificial skin' is composed of a single sensor. The unit is attached to a flexible material, just like the armor worn by ancient soldiers, and each sensor unit is not flexible and can not achieve complete continuous measurement. This new type of 'artificial skin' launched this time, there is no separate The sensor unit, the sensor array is a whole, like the sponge on the table tennis racket and the tire of the car, it is very soft overall, it can be twisted and stretched to break the defects of the 'armored' array sensor, an analogy is like table tennis The sponge on the racquet and the tire of the car belt are a completely new type of three-dimensional flexible array touch sensor," Ge Yunjian said.

Ge Yunjian further explained: “The matrix material of the new type of artificial skin is a newly developed conductive adhesive that can be flow molded. The manufacturing process is like pouring a prefabricated plate for building a house. The skeleton of a steel bar is first built and then poured into the cement. And the sand makes it a whole. The 'artificial skin' is a grid-like conductive node in the upper and lower layers, with a new type of conductive glue in the middle."