 Innovations such as biomimicry, software inspired by insect brains, smart skin, neuromorphic computing, and other emerging technologies further expand robots' capabilities and push the boundaries of robotics hardware.

The 2023 Manufacturing Robotics Report: Hardware

If you&rsquo;ve ever tried giftwrapping an odd-shaped present like a teddy bear, you can appreciate the challenge that surgeons face when grafting artificial skin onto an injured body part. Like wrapping paper, engineered skin comes in flat pieces, which can be difficult and time-consuming to stitch together around an irregularly shaped body part.Bioengineers at Columbia University appear to have solved this problem by devising a way to grow engineered skin in complex, three-dimensional shapes, making it possible to construct, for example, a seamless &ldquo;glove&rdquo; of skin cells that can be easily slipped onto a severely burned hand.The researchers reported their findings in a paper published Jan. 27 in&nbsp;<a data-extlink="" href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade2514" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Science Advances(link is external and opens in a new window)</a>.&ldquo;Three-dimensional skin constructs that can be transplanted as &lsquo;biological clothing&rsquo; would have many advantages,&rdquo; says lead developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dermatology.columbia.edu/profile/hasan-e-abaci-phd" target="_blank">Hasan Erbil Abaci, PhD</a>, assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. &ldquo;They would dramatically minimize the need for suturing, reduce the length of surgeries, and improve aesthetic outcomes.&rdquo;The current study also revealed that the continuous 3D grafts have better mechanical and functional properties than conventional, pieced-together grafts.<h2>3D scaffolding</h2>The process of creating the new skin grafts begins with a 3D laser scan of the target structure, such as a human hand. Next, a hollow, permeable model of the hand is crafted using computer-aided design and 3D printing. The exterior of the model is then seeded with skin fibroblasts, which generate the skin&rsquo;s connective tissue, and collagen (a structural protein). Finally, the outside of the mold is coated with a mixture of keratinocytes (cells that comprise most of the outer skin layer, or epidermis) and the inside is perfused with growth media, which support and nourish the developing graft.Except for the 3D scaffold, the researchers employed the same procedures used to make flat engineered skin and the entire process took the same time, about three weeks.In a first test of the 3D engineered skin, constructs composed of human skin cells were successfully grafted onto the hind limbs of mice. &ldquo;It was like putting a pair of shorts on the mice,&rdquo; Abaci says, &ldquo;The entire surgery took about 10 minutes.&rdquo; Four weeks later, the grafts had completely integrated with the surrounding mouse skin, and the mice reacquired full functions of the limb.Mouse skin heals differently than human skin, so the researchers next plan to test the grafts on larger animals with skin biology that more closely matches that of humans. Clinical trials on humans are likely years away.<h2>Redesigning engineered skin</h2>The 3D grafts are the first major re-design of engineered skin grafts since they were first introduced in the early 1980s. &ldquo;Engineered skin started with only two cell types, but human skin has around 50 types of cells. Most research had focused on mimicking the cellular components of human skin,&rdquo; Abaci says. &ldquo;As a bioengineer, it&rsquo;s always bothered me that the skin&rsquo;s geometry was overlooked and grafts have been made with open boundaries, or edges. We know from bioengineering other organs that geometry is an important factor that affects function.&rdquo;Abaci and his team realized they could make more lifelike grafts when 3D printers became available and could create three-dimensional scaffolds necessary for making the engineered skin.&ldquo;We hypothesized that a 3D fully enclosed shape would more closely mimic our natural skin and be stronger mechanically, and that&rsquo;s what we found,&rdquo; Abaci says. &ldquo;Simply remaining faithful to the continuous geometry of human skin significantly improves the composition, structure, and strength of the graft.&rdquo;In the future, Abaci envisions grafts could be custom-made from a patient&rsquo;s own cells. With only a 4X4 mm skin sample, enough cells can be cultured and multiplied to create enough skin to cover a human hand.&ldquo;Another compelling use would be face transplants, where our wearable skin would be integrated with underlying tissues like cartilage, muscle, and bone, offering patients a personalized alternative to cadaver transplants,&rdquo; Abaci says.<hr>The study is titled &ldquo;<a href="https://epicure.cumc.columbia.edu/content/about-epicure-center" target="_blank">Engineering Edgeless Human Skin with Enhanced Biomechanical Properties</a>.&rdquo;The other contributors (all at Columbia University): Alberto Pappalardo, David Alvarez Cespedes, Shuyang Fang, Abigail R. Herschman, Eun Young Jeon, Kristin M. Myers, and Jeffrey W. Kysar.

Creating a "glove" of engineered skin begins with a 3D-printed scaffold and ends three weeks later with a construct ready for grafting. Images: Alberto Pappalardo and Hasan Erbil Abaci / Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Columbia University devising a way to grow engineered skin in complex, three-dimensional shapes, making it possible to construct, for example, a seamless “glove” of skin cells that can be easily slipped onto a severely burned hand.

Bioengineered Skin Grafts that Fit Like a Glove

Biomimetics is an approach that helps scientists develop new materials and devices based on principles present in nature. We&rsquo;ve <a href="https://news.itmo.ru/en/science/cyberphysics/news/12825/" target="_blank">talked</a> about how it&rsquo;s applied in robotics, but there are many other fields in which it&rsquo;s also used. For example, physicists working with lasers make use of biomimetics to edit and enhance properties of various materials.<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Nature in nano- and microstructures</h2>Scientists are able to change the properties of different materials and, for example, turn them from hydrophobic into hydrophilic ones. In order to do that, they influence the surface of a material and create a required microgeometry (morphology) by using chemical reagents or installations with programming control. However, such methods aren&rsquo;t always efficient. If you need to change the properties at nano- or microscale or study how one property influences another, you should use other approaches. One of them is to edit the morphology of the surface using laser radiation. Nature helps scientists realize how exactly it should be done.<blockquote>&ldquo;How does biomimetics help us? When industrial partners ask us to solve specific tasks, for example, to protect the surface of a ship from biofouling, corrosion, or bacteria, we look for the way it is done in nature. Then, based on our experience, we pick a material, a medium, a source of laser radiation, and an optical system to recreate the natural structure in our lab. We mostly develop the morphology of a living body&rsquo;s surface, but its initial chemical composition also matters. For example, we can create a lotus&rsquo; structure on a hydrophilic surface and edit it to enhance this quality, or we can design a hydrophobic surface and make it even more hydrophobic,&rdquo; says Galina Odintsova, head of ITMO&rsquo;s Institute of Laser Technologies.</blockquote><h2 dir="ltr">Enhanced materials</h2>At ITMO&rsquo;s Institute of Laser Technologies, students and staff work in various research fields related to biomimetics. Among them is studying hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties in order to control how wet a surface is and how liquids move on it; creating structures on the surface of materials to increase biocompatibility, as well as antibacterial and antibiofouling properties, and imitating optical properties of animals and insects.Hydrophobicity stands for being water-repellent. Some plants, such as nasturtium and columbine, acquire a lotus effect. Due to the low surface energy of the leaves, small drops of water don&rsquo;t spread over them, but rather gather into several large drops. Under their own weight, they roll down and take dust and dirt particles with them. This is how plants clean themselves.Scientists can recreate this property and design a self-cleaning surface under artificial conditions. To do this, they form a microstructure with peaks, which in their turn are also covered with smaller, nanoscale peaks.In addition to hydrophobicity, the movement of droplets is also affected by the adhesion to the surface. For example, a lotus has a hydrophobic surface with low adhesion, which means that water flows off the leaves easily, while a rose has a highly adhesive surface, so it retains water and prevents it from moving.Hydrophobicity&nbsp;helps make things waterproof and create water-repellent clothing and suits for scuba divers, increase metal&rsquo;s ability to resist corrosion, reduce biofouling, protect objects from icing, fogging, or dirt.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665886476155-ezgif-4-6f29941ab4.gif" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Demo stand of the laser-induced biomimetic surface on steel. Credit: Dmitry Grigoryev, ITMO.NEWS.&nbsp;Hydrophilicity&nbsp;stands for being attracted to water. The Texas horned lizard is able to collect and move condensate through its body to drink it during a hot day in the desert. How? The scales of the lizard form a system of hydrophilic tubes, through which water flows in the right direction. This happens even if the animal is moving upside down. This is called a capillary effect.In the industry, the hydrophilic properties are used to create absorbent materials such as clothes, medical mineral wadding, beauty products, and more. They also help increase adhesion of different materials so that they could be easily painted or varnished.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665886576251-ezgif-4-16d951580e.gif" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Demo stand of the laser-induced biomimetic surface on steel. Credit: Dmitry Grigoryev, ITMO.NEWS.&nbsp;There are animals that have both hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity, for example, a head-stander beetle. Its shell is covered with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic stripes. In the morning, the bug bends over and collects the fog condensate using hydrophilic stripes on its back, and then the drops slide to its head through hydrophobic stripes.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665886605054-1283501.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Credit: Dmitry Grigoryev, ITMO.NEWS.&nbsp;Nadezhda Shchedrina, an engineer at the Institute of Laser Technologies and a first-year PhD student, used this example from nature and reproduced similar properties on metal. A wetting gradient was created on the surface of the sample using laser radiation. It consists of sequential processed areas that go from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. When a drop of water is placed on a hydrophobic area, it flows towards the more hydrophilic one.Such materials with mixed properties can be used to solve various problems &ndash; to drain condensate and collect water or create medical microfluidic systems. For example, if you make several branched strips from sections with different properties and place a drop of blood there, it will split in two and flow through different channels, at the end of which there will be different reagents. Depending on what color the two drops turn, the doctor will be able to draw a conclusion about a patient&rsquo;s health.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665886630674-1283500.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Nadezhda Shchedrina. Credit: Dmitry Grigoryev, ITMO.NEWS.&nbsp;Biofouling protection.&nbsp;The hydrophobic properties of lotus and rose have inspired scientists at the Institute of Laser Technologies to create special surfaces for ships that will help reduce biofilm and microorganism fouling. As a result, the researchers developed a hydrophobic microstructure with sockets smaller than the average size of microorganisms. Experiments have shown that biofouling doesn&rsquo;t occur in the stagnant water of the Gulf of Finland because microorganisms don&rsquo;t fit into the sockets and can&rsquo;t cling to the surface. In contrast to traditional methods of antifouling (paints or resins), this method &ndash; application of special surfaces modified by laser irradiation &ndash; turned out to be more inexpensive and environmentally friendly.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665886656417-1283504.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Laser-induced biomimetic relief on steel. Photo courtesy of the scientists&nbsp;Biocompatibility and antibacterial properties.&nbsp;In order to solve an inverse problem and help microorganisms to secure themselves on a surface and facilitate tissue regeneration, researchers from the Institute of Laser Technologies recreated the shape and structure of an osteon, a structural element of human bone tissue. Thanks to this, cells of the bone tissue (osteocytes) will reproduce more efficiently and stick to the surface better thanks to the biomimetic form. In order to decrease the spread of bacteria in the cervical zone of the implant, the researchers work on another type of surface made with biocompatible titanium oxides. Once activated with a UV light, they acquire antibacterial properties. In the future, the scientists plan to study the influence of UV radiation on antibacterial qualities.<blockquote>&ldquo;We would like to imitate shark scales. Research shows that the surface of this fish decreases biofouling and friction, so if we manage to recreate its properties on a ship, it will solve two problems at once. It will be great to come up with multipurpose materials with several useful qualities, such as biocompatibility and antibacterial properties or resistance to friction and biofouling,&rdquo; says Nadezhda Shchedrina.</blockquote><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665886677989-1283502.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Laser-induced biomimetic relief on titanium. Photo courtesy of the scientists&nbsp;Optical illusions on the surface.&nbsp;Using a laser, you can create materials that will not only repel or attract liquids, but also change color at different angles. In this case, the scientists were inspired by the Morpho butterfly. The structure of its wings is similar to a spruce, the branches of which are wider around the base. The &ldquo;trunk&rdquo; is a thin film that creates an interference effect and gives the butterfly a blue color. The &ldquo;branches&rdquo; serve as diffraction gratings. They cause the blue color to shimmer with other colors, create volume, and show and hide a part of the image, creating the effect of movement. Something like this happens with soap bubbles or kerosine on asphalt. Using this effect, the scientists will be able to create forgery-protective holograms for banknotes and products.Butterfly wings are also covered with nanoscales, which give them color. The scientists have adopted this idea and, by depositing precious metal particles from a plasma torch, formed a layer of nanoparticles on the surface of metals. It can change color due to plasmon resonance. However, just like butterfly scales, such a layer is easily erased after being touched. Therefore, now the students of the Institute of Laser Technologies are developing a coating that can protect the multi-colored deposition.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665886770571-1283503.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Demo version of protective holograms. Photo courtesy of the scientists&nbsp;<hr>Translated by <a href="https://news.itmo.ru/en/profile/54/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kseniia Tereshchenko</a> and originally published by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.itmo.ru/en/&source=gmail&ust=1665742142569000&usg=AOvVaw2LChR-pA6lYpYiNzCB_TIH" href="https://news.itmo.ru/en/" target="_blank">ITMO.NEWS</a>

A demo prototype of a hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface. Credit: Dmitry Grigoryev, ITMO.NEWS.

Biomimetics is an approach that helps scientists develop new materials and devices based on principles present in nature. We’ve  talked about how it’s applied in robotics, but there are many other fields in which it’s also used. 

How Biomimetics Helps Scientists Create Materials With New Properties

<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Tried and tested (and free)</h2>Biomimetics is the method by which scientists borrow successful ideas from nature to use in their own inventions. The advantage of this approach is that the solutions found among animals and plants are not subject to any patent. And over countless millennia, there are certain structures and mechanisms in nature that have allowed all sorts of living things to survive in various conditions. Thus, developers can rely on nature&rsquo;s best ideas, modify them as needed, and create robots that resemble beings we&rsquo;re already familiar with.<blockquote>&ldquo;For instance, there&rsquo;s a German company named Festo that specializes in various biomimetic solutions. They have a kangaroo robot that, just like the real thing, conserves energy after a jump and uses it for the next one. There are other notable inventions: the well-known Spot robot-dogs, worm-like medical robots, or even drug delivery bots modeled after fish. Some specialists develop mechanisms based on plant life &ndash; plantoids. But that&rsquo;s still a work in progress and it&rsquo;ll be some time before you can buy one in a store,&rdquo; explains Pavel Kovalenko, an associate professor at the Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics.</blockquote><h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">More ground to cover</h2>Nevertheless, the biomimetic method suffers from several limitations. Firstly, scientists have not been successful in recreating the principles or developing materials that would allow them to fully replicate certain species. Take geckos: these lizards&rsquo; paws are covered with microscopic adhesive hairs that can stick to any smooth vertical surface and traverse it. But researchers are yet to create a similar technology that would be suitable for industrial production.<blockquote>&ldquo;When we try to create the same product using nanolithography, the hairs come out different: not splayed like they should be, but rather conical or simply crudely shaped. Because of this, the adhesion is not adequate. In addition, artificial materials cannot self-clean and, therefore, lose their stickiness. It&rsquo;s like a piece of duct tape that you apply and tear off again and again,&rdquo; says Pavel Kovalenko.</blockquote>The second limitation of biomimetics is the scalability of natural mechanisms: as a rule, the ideas used at nanoscale are not always reproducible in macroscale. This forces researchers to look for other solutions to applied problems. For instance, instead of a robotic gecko, they will also create a snail that can climb vertical surfaces.Last but not least, for robots to function as animals, researchers have to truly synchronize their control system, its components, and parts of the robot. According to Pavel Kovalenko, this can be achieved when both the software and the engineering aspects of the robot are developed by a single team with a clear view of their final outcome.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">A robotic zoo at ITMO</h2>Despite all these challenges, students and graduates of ITMO&rsquo;s Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics are actively engaged in biomimetics, having already completed several stages of their research. First, they analyzed the behavior, body structure and functions of living organisms, and then based on this step decided which body parts they should recreate in their work. They have also selected flexible materials resembling existing animals. At the next stage, the researchers performed calculations, chose the digital components and motors for the robot, and developed the necessary software. As a result, they have already created several model robotic animals.For instance, ITMO graduate Georgy Larionenko developed a waterproof robotic fish with a moving tail that works on two magnets. A servomotor inside the waterproof body activates the first magnet, which in its turn activates the second one that is connected to the fluke. This way, by moving its tail in the water, the robotic fish can swim &ndash; both in fresh and salty water, as experiments have shown. The robot can be useful for gauging the parameters of the water and the ocean floor in various conditions, including in the arctic region.&nbsp;<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fYqbsCFRuS0?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 768px; height: 429px;"></iframe>A team of three graduates, Oksana Shuraeva, Anastasia Yusupova, and Anton Kovalenko, has developed a robotic snail. It can crawl down inclined surfaces by intermittently extending and retracting its &ldquo;paws,&rdquo; two spirals with plates attached to them. In order to guide the robot in the necessary direction, a servomotor, located in its shell, positions the snail&rsquo;s head at the needed angle, so that the rest of its body can follow suit. One application of this invention is window cleaning &ndash; the snail will leave a trail of detergent behind.Elizaveta Shelukhina, another ITMO graduate, wanted to make a device that will be protected from its environment. She could take inspiration from several animals, including turtles, hedgehogs, and armadillos, but eventually decided to settle on the latter, creating the concept for robotic armadillo. When the robot senses that something is falling on it or if someone kicks it, it rolls into a ball to protect its silicon insides. When the external influence ends, the robot unrolls back into its full length. Such robotic armadillos can come in handy in rescue missions, when there is a high risk of buildings collapsing.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665655602540-1282503.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Robotic snail. Image courtesy of the Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665655652013-1282504.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The snail&rsquo;s locomotion mechanism includes two spirals with plates attached to them. The spirals are activated by two D41AB12 DC motors and when climbing an inclined surface the snail&rsquo;s front part is controlled by an FS5106B servomotor. Image courtesy of the Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics&nbsp; &nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665655682130-1282501.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The concept of a protected armadillo robot developed by Elizaveta Shelukhina. When hit by something, the robot rolls into a ball to protect its insides. Photo by Dmitry Grigoryev, ITMO.NEWS&nbsp; &nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1665655703530-1282502.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The robotic fish presented at the Robotex youth robotics contect. Image courtesy of the Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics&nbsp; &nbsp;These days, students at the faculty are also developing various robotic animals. For example, Maged Mohamed, a second-year student in the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Master&rsquo;s program, researches biomimetics to come up with his own prototype of a waterproof fish that will also resist the pressure deep underwater to collect samples of the bottom and water for analysis.&nbsp;<hr>Translated by&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.itmo.ru/en/profile/30/&source=gmail&ust=1665742142569000&usg=AOvVaw3TxK7CnbdCJBWzW22ae5a2" href="https://news.itmo.ru/en/profile/30/" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vadim Galimov</a> and <a href="https://news.itmo.ru/en/profile/51/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Catherine Zavodova</a>, and originally published by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.itmo.ru/en/&source=gmail&ust=1665742142569000&usg=AOvVaw2LChR-pA6lYpYiNzCB_TIH" href="https://news.itmo.ru/en/" target="_blank">ITMO.NEWS</a>

Boston Dynamics’ Spot, bionic kangaroos and even ants – biomimetics allows us to replicate almost any living thing. But why do roboticists look to animals for inspiration, what do they do at ITMO, and how do you make a robot act “natural”?

Biomimetics: The Science of Robo-Animals

Although robots cannot replace human caregivers, they can provide support so that caregivers have more time to provide the personal, human touch. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum f&uuml;r Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is testing various robotic care assistants in a series of projects. Although these robots were developed for spaceflight, they can also help with essential tasks on Earth.What activities will robots be allowed to take on in care in the future? How will it be ensured that people and their needs are always at the heart of technological advances? How can robotic assistance systems be used in retirement homes, private households and hospitals? Researchers from the <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/institutes/institute-of-robotics-and-mechatronics.html" target="_blank" title="Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics">DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics</a> in <a href="https://www.dlr.de/content/en/sites/oberpfaffenhofen.html" target="_blank" title="Oberpfaffenhofen">Oberpfaffenhofen</a> are investigating these questions in the SMiLE (Service Robotics for People in Living Situations with Limitations; Servicerobotik f&uuml;r Menschen in Lebenssituationen mit Einschr&auml;nkungen) Project. &quot;Robotic care assistants are intended, on the one hand, to relieve the burden on care staff and, on the other, to provide those affected with a greater degree of independence in their everyday lives. In this way, the robots can make a decisive contribution to improving the quality of life and communication with relatives and caregivers,&quot; explains project manager J&ouml;rn Vogel.<h2>Three assistance systems: Rollin&#39; Justin, EDAN and HUG</h2>A humanoid service robot can serve as a helping hand for an elderly person. A person with severe mobility impairments is more likely to use a robotic chair. There is also an interface between the systems. Several systems are being prepared for optimal human assistance.<ul><li><a href="https://www.dlr.de/rm/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-11427/#gallery/35411" target="_blank" title="External link Robot Rollin Justin">Rollin&lsquo; Justin</a> is a humanoid, two-armed, mobile home assistance robot. It monitors its environment via sensors and cameras and evaluates this information. Its lightweight arms enable sensitive interaction with the environment. Rollin&#39; Justin uses artificial intelligence (AI) to plan its workflows autonomously.</li><li><a href="http://www.dlr.de/rm/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-11670/#gallery/28208" target="_blank" title="External link EDAN">EDAN</a> is a wheelchair with a lightweight robotic arm and hand. It is moved with a joystick or via muscle signals measured directly on the surface of the person&#39;s skin. EDAN and Rollin&#39; Justin can also be moved by relatives via smartphones or tablets. Remote control from a care control centre is possible.</li><li><a href="https://www.dlr.de/rm/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-11704/#gallery/34276" target="_blank" title="External link Roboter HUG">HUG</a> is a haptic input station with two lightweight arms for remote robot control. HUG measures human movements, uses them as signals, and relays them in this way. At the same time, the user feels the exact forces that the robot senses. In this way, EDAN and Rollin&#39; Justin can also be controlled easily and intuitively.</li></ul>In everyday life, for example, EDAN with its robotic arm could help to significantly increase the independence of people with severe motor impairments. Rollin&#39; Justin could perform pick-up and drop-off services in a care facility. For unusual or difficult tasks, trained caregivers from a control centre would be able to quickly assist those in need of care via HUG.<hr><h3 id="isPasted">Focus on safe human-robot interaction </h3>Robotic technologies have long been part of our everyday lives. Simple systems include vacuum cleaner robots or autonomous lawn mowing robots. The use of mobile service robots represents a next step. Equipped with arms and hands, these robots can react to their environment. These developments are possible because modern lightweight robot technology offers safe human-robot interaction. Classic industrial robot arms, such as those used in the automotive industry, must always be operated behind barriers for safety reasons. Modern lightweight robots, on the other hand, are sensitive to physical contact with humans or the environment.The <a href="https://www.dlr.de/rm/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-12464/21732_read-44586/" target="_blank" title="External link Story of the Lightweight Robot LBR">LBR Light-weight Robot</a> developed at DLR almost 20 years ago represented an important milestone in this field. It can sense and control its interaction with the environment through joint torque sensors. This additional information makes it possible for the robot to behave in an actively compliant and thus safe manner, similar to a human arm &ndash; an essential requirement for use in the direct environment of humans.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1661775337601-success-story-lightweight-robot-lbr.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The first prototype (left) of the LBR was developed in the mid-1990s. The technology of the third generation from 2003 (right) was licensed to the company KUKA. Originally intended as a lightweight robotic arm for space applications, DLR robotics technology forms the basis for many other robotic systems and also serves as a pioneer for safe human-robot interaction. Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Although robots cannot replace human caregivers, they can provide support so that caregivers have more time to provide the personal, human touch.

Robots for people in need of care

If you have ever had your blood drawn, whether to check your cholesterol, kidney function, hormone levels, blood sugar, or as part of a general checkup, you might have wondered why there is not an easier, less painful way.&nbsp;Now there might be. A team of researchers from Caltech&#39;s Cherng Department of Medical Engineering has unveiled a new wearable sensor that can detect in human sweat even minute levels of many common nutrients and biological compounds that can serve as indicators of human health.&nbsp;The sensor technology was developed in the lab of <a href="https://eas.caltech.edu/people/weigao" target="_blank">Wei Gao</a>, assistant professor of medical engineering, Heritage Medical Research Institute investigator, and Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholar. For years, Gao&#39;s research has focused on wearable sensors with medical applications, and this latest work represents the most precise and sensitive iteration yet.&quot;We&#39;ve done wearable sweat sensors before,&quot; he says. &quot;There were so many biomarkers we wanted to detect, but in the past we could not. There was no good way.&quot;Gao says previous versions of his sweat sensors relied on enzymes embedded within them to detect a limited number of relevant compounds. While antibodies could be used in sensors to detect more compounds at low concentrations, that technique had a big weakness: antibodies in the sensor can only be used once, meaning the sensors will wear out.The new sensor technology includes what Gao calls molecularly imprinted polymers, which are like artificial, reusable antibodies. To picture how they work, imagine a hypothetical object shaped like a plus sign. If you take that object and pour silicone rubber over the top of it, let the rubber harden, and then pull the molecule out of the rubber, you now have a chunk of rubber with a plus-shaped hollow in it. Only objects with that same size and shape will fit nicely into the hollow.Molecularly imprinted polymers work the same way, but on a much smaller scale. If you want to make a sensor that can detect, for example, the amino acid glutamine, you prepare the polymer with the glutamine molecules inside. Then, through a chemical process, remove the glutamine, and you have a polymer with holes in it that are the exact shape of glutamine.Gao&#39;s innovation is to combine that specially formed polymer with a material that can be oxidized or reduced under an applied electrical voltage when in contact with human sweat. As long as those glutamine-shaped holes are open, sweat comes into contact with the inner layer of the sensor and an electrical signal is generated. But as glutamine molecules come into contact with the polymer, they slip into those holes that were made for them.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1661086623073-gluatmine_hole.max-500x500.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A glutamine molecule prepares to slide into a hole shaped just for it, similar to the characters in the comic The Enigma of Amigara Fault by Junji Ito.&nbsp;As those holes become plugged with glutamine molecules, less sweat is able to contact the inner layer, and the electrical signal becomes weaker. By monitoring that electrical signal, the researchers can then deduce how much glutamine is present in the sweat. More glutamine means a weaker signal. Less glutamine results in a stronger signal.&quot;This unique strategy allows us to detect all of the nine essential amino acids and multiple vitamins,&quot; Gao says. &quot;We can do them all continuously.&quot;And unlike antibodies, the polymer can easily be &quot;cleaned&quot; for reuse through the application of a weak electrical signal that destroys the target molecule or empties out the hole it was in.The second innovation in Gao&#39;s research is the use of microfluidics, a technology that utilizes tiny channels less than a quarter millimeter wide to manipulate small amounts of fluids. Microfluidics allow the sensor to operate when even a miniscule amount of sweat is present.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1661086651340-Wearable_Sensor-Photo.max-1400x800.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A version of the sweat sensor. The large curved sections are electrodes that stimulate sweat production. Credit: CaltechHuman skin can be artificially stimulated to sweat out drug molecules delivered by electrical current, but previous sensors required more sweat, and thus more current, which could be uncomfortable for the user, Gao says. Thanks to microfluidics and the use of a different type of drug, the sensor now needs less sweat, and the current needed to generate the sweat can be very small.&quot;This microfluidic design allows us to use very small currents,&quot; he says. &quot;We can stimulate four to five hours of sweat from several minutes of stimulation with tens of microamps.&quot;So far, the sensor technology has been shown to work on human subjects in laboratory settings. Gao hopes to test it in larger-scale human trials.&quot;This approach allows us to detect a bunch of new crucial nutrients and metabolites. We can monitor when we eat and watch nutrient levels change,&quot; he says. &quot;It not only monitors nutrients, but also hormones and drugs. It can provide continuous monitoring for many health conditions.&quot;The paper describing the research, titled, &quot;A Wearable Electrochemical Biosensor for the Monitoring of Metabolites and Nutrients,&quot; appears on August 15 in the journal&nbsp;Nature Biomedical Engineering.The paper&#39;s co-authors are Minqiang Wang, postdoctoral scholar research associate in medical engineering; Yiran Yang (MS &#39;18), medical engineering graduate student; Jihong Min (MS &lsquo;19), medical engineering graduate student; Yu Song, postdoctoral scholar research associate in medical engineering, Jiaobing Tu (MS &#39;20), medical engineering graduate student; Daniel Mukasa (MS &#39;21), materials science graduate student; Cui Ye, postdoctoral scholar research associate in medical engineering; Changhao Xu (&#39;20), medical engineering graduate student; Nicole Heflin (BS &#39;22), a former electrical engineering SURF student; Jeannine S. McCune of City of Hope; and Tzung K. Hsiai and Zhaoping Li, MD, of UCLA.

If you have ever had your blood drawn, whether to check your cholesterol, kidney function, hormone levels, blood sugar, or as part of a general checkup, you might have wondered why there is not an easier, less painful way.

New Wearable Sensor Detects Even More Compounds in Human Sweat

This article was first published on <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/sensor-electronic-chipless-0818" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>. &nbsp;<hr>Wearable sensors are ubiquitous thanks to wireless technology that enables a person&rsquo;s glucose concentrations, blood pressure, heart rate, and activity levels to be transmitted seamlessly from sensor to smartphone for further analysis.Most wireless sensors today communicate via embedded Bluetooth chips that are themselves powered by small batteries. But these conventional chips and power sources will likely be too bulky for next-generation sensors, which are taking on smaller, thinner, more flexible forms.Now MIT engineers have devised a new kind of wearable sensor that communicates wirelessly without requiring onboard chips or batteries. Their design, detailed today in the journal&nbsp;Science, opens a path toward chip-free wireless sensors.The team&rsquo;s sensor design is a form of electronic skin, or &ldquo;e-skin&rdquo; &mdash; a flexible, semiconducting film that conforms to the skin like electronic Scotch tape. The heart of the sensor is an ultrathin, high-quality film of gallium nitride, a material that is known for its piezoelectric properties, meaning that it can both produce an electrical signal in response to mechanical strain and mechanically vibrate in response to an electrical impulse.The researchers found they could harness gallium nitride&rsquo;s two-way piezoelectric properties and use the material simultaneously for both sensing and wireless communication.In their new study, the team produced pure, single-crystalline samples of gallium nitride, which they paired with a conducting layer of gold to boost any incoming or outgoing electrical signal. They showed that the device was sensitive enough to vibrate in response to a person&rsquo;s heartbeat, as well as the salt in their sweat, and that the material&rsquo;s vibrations generated an electrical signal that could be read by a nearby receiver. In this way, the device was able to wirelessly transmit sensing information, without the need for a chip or battery.&ldquo;Chips require a lot of power, but our device could make a system very light without having any chips that are power-hungry,&rdquo; says the study&rsquo;s corresponding author, Jeehwan Kim, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and of materials science and engineering, and a principal investigator in the Research Laboratory of Electronics. &ldquo;You could put it on your body like a bandage, and paired with a wireless reader on your cellphone, you could wirelessly monitor your pulse, sweat, and other biological signals.&rdquo;Kim&rsquo;s co-authors include first author and former MIT postdoc Yeongin Kim, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati; co-corresponding author Jiyeon Han of the Korean cosmetics company AMOREPACIFIC, which helped motivate the current work; members of the Kim Research Group at MIT; and other collaborators at the University of Virginia, Washington University in St. Louis, and multiple institutions across South Korea.<h2>Pure resonance</h2>Jeehwan Kim&rsquo;s group previously developed a technique, called&nbsp;<a href="https://news.mit.edu/2018/study-flexible-electronics-made-exotic-materials-1008" target="_blank">remote epitaxy</a>, that they have employed to quickly grow and peel away ultrathin, high-quality semiconductors from wafers coated with graphene. Using this technique, they have fabricated and explored various flexible, multifunctional electronic films.In their new study, the engineers used the same technique to peel away ultrathin single-crystalline films of gallium nitride, which in its pure, defect-free form is a highly sensitive piezoelectric material.The team looked to use a pure film of gallium nitride as both a sensor and a wireless communicator of surface acoustic waves, which are essentially vibrations across the films. The patterns of these waves can indicate a person&rsquo;s heart rate, or even more subtly, the presence of certain compounds on the skin, such as salt in sweat.The researchers hypothesized that a gallium nitride-based sensor, adhered to the skin, would have its own inherent, &ldquo;resonant&rdquo; vibration or frequency that the piezoelectric material would simultaneously convert into an electrical signal, the frequency of which a wireless receiver could register. Any change to the skin&rsquo;s conditions, such as from an accelerated heart rate, would affect the sensor&rsquo;s mechanical vibrations, and the electrical signal that it automatically transmits to the recever.&nbsp;&ldquo;If there is any change in the pulse, or chemicals in sweat, or even ultraviolet exposure to skin, all of this activity can change the pattern of surface acoustic waves on the gallium nitride film,&rdquo; notes Yeongin Kim. &ldquo;And the sensitivity of our film is so high that it can detect these changes.&rdquo;<h2>Wave transmission</h2>To test their idea, the researchers produced a thin film of pure, high-quality gallium nitride and paired it with a layer of gold to boost the electrical signal. They deposited the gold in the pattern of repeating dumbbells &mdash; a lattice-like configuration that imparted some flexibility to the normally rigid metal. The gallium nitride and gold, which they consider to be a sample of electronic skin, measures just 250 nanometers thick &mdash; about 100 times thinner than the width of a human hair.They placed the new e-skin on volunteers&rsquo; wrists and necks, and used a simple antenna, held nearby, to wirelessly register the device&rsquo;s frequency without physically contacting the sensor itself. The device was able to sense and wirelessly transmit changes in the surface acoustic waves of the gallium nitride on volunteers&rsquo; skin related to their heart rate.The team also paired the device with a thin ion-sensing membrane &mdash; a material that selectively attracts a target ion, and in this case, sodium. With this enhancement, the device could sense and wireless transmit changing sodium levels as a volunteer held onto a heat pad and began to sweat.The researchers see their results as a first step toward chip-free wireless sensors, and they envision that the current device could be paired with other selective membranes to monitor other vital biomarkers.&ldquo;We showed sodium sensing, but if you change the sensing membrane, you could detect any target biomarker, such as glucose, or cortisol related to stress levels,&rdquo; says co-author and MIT postdoc Jun Min Suh. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite a versatile platform.&rdquo;<hr>&quot;Reprinted with permission of&nbsp;<a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/sensor-electronic-chipless-0818" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>&quot;&nbsp;

The device senses and wirelessly transmits signals without bulky chips or batteries. Courtesy of the researchers

The device senses and wirelessly transmits signals related to pulse, sweat, and ultraviolet exposure, without bulky chips or batteries.

Engineers fabricate a chip-free, wireless electronic "skin"

Following the breakthrough with their first sweating artificial skin two years ago, Danqing Liu&rsquo;s multidisciplinary team hasn&rsquo;t been sitting still. Their goal: an artificial skin that sweats as naturally as possible. They have succeeded in this, as can be read in their article in Angewandte Chemie. There, they explain how they managed to be the first team in the world to be able to accurately control where, when and how much an artificial skin sweats and also where the liquid collects.&nbsp;<h2><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1660531451306-csm_illustration+2_paper_a9f6306874.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Schematic representation of the secretion of liquid by the artificial skin with different external stimuli. Photo: Danqing Liu.&nbsp;Sweating robots</h2>In the previous breakthrough by the team, it became apparent that an artificial skin that can sweat on command could have numerous practical applications. Back then, the artificial skin could secrete the fluid evenly and equally everywhere. An evenly sweating artificial skin can help cool the surface of robots. In social applications, it could help make the robot as human-like as possible, which includes sweating. Or consider special bandages that can deliver controlled drugs to human skin or to a wound surface such as a burn.These applications will only become more tangible as this new invention allows them to control where the artificial skin excretes fluid within a few micrometer. Not only that, but the researchers now control how much and for how long the fluid is released by the artificial skin, as well as where the fluid collects and when it is time to reabsorb it.The release of fluid is stimulated by UV light. By then applying voltage to the underlying electrical grid, the fluid collects in the desired places. Through clever design of the grid, this can be completely controlled and creates a very natural sweat pattern. Think about yourself: on a hot day, sweat also collects in specific places on your face. This artificial skin brings us a big step closer to imitating the natural behavior of the skin.<h2 id="isPasted">Multidisciplinary team</h2><a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/research/researchers/danqing-liu/" target="_blank">Danqing Liu</a>, assistant professor at the department of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/our-university/departments/chemical-engineering-and-chemistry/" target="_blank">Chemical Engineering &amp; Chemistry</a> and affiliated with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/research/institutes/institute-for-complex-molecular-systems/" target="_blank">ICMS institute</a>, and het postdoc&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/research/researchers/yuanyuan-zhan/" target="_blank">YuanYuan Zhan</a>&rsquo;s drive and enthusiasm are infectious to anyone who speaks to her. In Liu&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.tue.nl/fileadmin/icms/Highlights%20magazine/TUE_ECHT%204391_ICMS%20magazine_juni_2022_LR.pdf#page=10" target="_blank">special lab</a>, she has gathered a unique multidisciplinary team around her. The lab also has the equipment to do electrotechnical, chemical and physical research in conjunction with industrial design, which is fairly exceptional within the university. Together, they are doing research on several promising materials based on liquid crystals, better known for LCD screens.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so cool to see what our team can accomplish with these materials based on outside stimuli!&rdquo; Liu enthusiastically explains. &ldquo;I have a very broad technical background, so I can brainstorm with each team member. Still, everybody&rsquo;s specialisms were essential to achieving the results that we are now demonstrating.&rdquo;<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yixbRf5RRDY?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 767px; height: 404px;"></iframe>SWEATING ARTIFICIAL SKIN.&nbsp;In the video presented here, the different phases of liquid secretion are visualized for clarification. The first secretion of the chosen liquid is stimulated with UV-light. Next, the liquid collects where the electrical grid dictates. Finally the liquid is reabsorbed through the pores in the skin, when the electricity and UV-light are switched off.<h2 id="isPasted">Unique combination of properties</h2>What makes this new iteration of artificial skin by Liu&rsquo;s team so unique is the far-reaching control that they have over the skin&rsquo;s behavior: secreting, dispersing or collecting and reabsorbing the liquid, a process which they control via free UV light and electricity. Unsurprisingly, their work is generating excitement in materials science.&ldquo;My motivation is to develop useful materials. I therefore like to start a project with a clear goal in mind. In this case, we&rsquo;re looking for a new material for a useful medical application,&rdquo; says Liu. &ldquo;And that takes time. It may seem like it&rsquo;s now going quickly, but from the first inspired idea to where we are now with this breakthrough has taken us over ten years. And we&rsquo;re not done yet.&ldquo;We started with the idea of seeing what we could do with liquid crystals in soft robotics in 3D. The focus then shifted to a 2D robot skin. We were keen to complement traditional robotics rather than compete with it. With the skin, we found that we could control the topology (mountains and valleys at the micrometer scale).&ldquo;We could use that as a coating to shake sand off of the Mars Rover&rsquo;s solar panels, for instance. Another application we&rsquo;ve worked out is alternating between sticky and non-sticky sections of the coating. By choosing which material is on the tops of the mountains and which is in the valleys, we could ensure that something is sticky or not. This could be a better method than a vacuum cup, especially for fragile or delicate parts like thin glass.&rdquo;And this brings us to Liu&rsquo;s team&#39;s current research. Together, they are working on that one dream: not simply imitating nature but helping it to evolve by adding to what is already possible. And it seems fair to conclude that they are succeeding in doing so with their unique liquid crystal materials.Yuanyuan Zhan and Danqing Liu&rsquo;s article &ldquo;<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202207468" target="_blank">Light- and Field-Controlled Diffusion, Ejection, Flow and Collection of Liquid at a Nanoporous Liquid Crystal Membrane</a>&rdquo; appeared as a top 5%early access online article in Angewandte Chemie on July 5th,2022.<hr>This article was first published here:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/27-07-2022-artificial-skin-sweats-on-command/" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/27-07-2022-artificial-skin-sweats-on-command/</a>

Yuanyuan Zhan with experimental results. Photo: Yuanyuan Zhan

The sophisticated artificial skin sweats where and how much the researchers want it to. This was reported in an Angewandte Chemie article by Danqing Liu and first author Yuanyuan Zhan.

Artificial skin sweats on command

The challenges of modern technology have remained the same for 70 years: Surfaces get dirty, wear out, ice up, fail. In short, they are insufficiently optimized for their areas of application. In almost all technical areas, surface finishing processes are used to improve the performance of products. In many cases, attempts are already being made to copy surfaces from nature with their diverse effects. In the case of the lotus effect, for example, a microstructure ensures that dirt does not adhere, but is simply washed off the next time it rains. The fine ripples of shark skin, on the other hand, improve the flow on the outside of airplanes and ships, which saves fuel. Until now, many such nature-inspired effects have been created by coating the surface or sticking films with microstructures imprinted on them. But coatings and films can wear out, so the desired effect diminishes over time.Fusion Bionic opens up completely new possibilities for functionalized surfaces based on a unique laser texturing technology. This makes it possible to create groundbreaking technical surfaces on which, for example, ice does not stick (anti-icing for e.g. aviation), glass surfaces of smartphones do not reflect (anti-reflective) and implants are better accepted by the body (biocompatible, antibacterial). The possibilities for surface enhancement are limitless, with today&#39;s material surfaces being significantly improved and established process steps in some cases being completely replaced. Fusion Bionic offers a highly scalable platform technology combined in a variety of compact, modular solutions and machines with high productivity.The high-throughput manufacturing systems offered by Fusion Bionic are compact, robust and up to 100 times faster than established processes, taking laser functionalization to the next level. At the core of Fusion Bionic&#39;s solutions is Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP) technology, which brings nature-inspired surface effects to technical surfaces quickly and efficiently. The main advantage of DLIP solutions is the high-throughput production of micro- and nanostructures directly on the material surface at speeds of up to 3 m&sup2;/min, without using additional process steps or chemicals. The surface structures produced feature specially developed surface functions inspired, for example, by the lotus leaf or moth&#39;s eye. This results in improved surfaces with e.g. self-cleaning, anti-icing, reduced friction, improved electr. properties or anti-reflection.

Biomimetics is an innovation driver of the 21st century. Fusion Bionic helps companies to unfold the potential of laser-generated bio-inspired principles.

Natural surfaces exhibit a unique surface design enabling amazing surface properties such as anti-reflection (Moth eye effect), decoration (Morpho butterfly), self-cleaning (Lotus effect) and many more. Learn how Fusion Bionic tackle innovative surfaces through laser technology using biomimetics.

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