Science fiction films portray the idea relatively simply: the terminator – who either tries to destroy or rescue humanity – is such a perfect humanoid robot that in most cases it is superior to humans. But how well do humanoid robots perform nowadays away from the cinema screen? Precisely this question is addressed by a new study drawn up by lead author Robert Riener, Professor of Sensory-Motor Systems at ETH Zurich and founder of the <a href="https://cybathlon.ethz.ch/en" target="_blank">Cybathlon</a>, that is being published today in the robotics journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI. &nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u9nKDxvTMeY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;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" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe>Digit is a humanoid robot designed to move more dynamically than conventional robots. (Video: Agility Robotics)<h2>Comparing apples with apples</h2>The first scientific challenge was to develop criteria that permit a meaningful comparison between humans and machines. An industrial robot painting car bodies on a production line does this faster, for longer and more precisely than a human. It is especially developed for this but also does not have any other abilities.Riener therefore excluded such robots from the study: “We humans shape our environment according to our criteria and needs. If robots are to support us in a meaningful way, they need to work in this manmade environment. We therefore quickly arrived at robots that are similar to humans, at least anatomically.” It is for this reason that Riener exclusively examined humanoid robots for the study and integrated 27 relevant specimens into his research.Yet the researchers also defined certain selection criteria within this robot type. “For example, for a robot that has rollers rather than legs it would be fairly easy to roll faster than a human can run – but we didn’t want to compare apples with pears,” explains Riener. Only those robots were therefore selected that had two or four legs so that they were also able to climb steps. They also need to have a slim figure in order to pass through doors, and a certain height (at least 50 cm) with arms and hands (or extendable by arms and hands) so that they can also pick up objects on a tray or shelf. In order to be able to work with and support humans, they should also be quiet and not give off any exhaust emissions. &nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1699581467325-image1.imageformat.lightbox.1055172521.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">ANYmal is a four-legged robot for the inspection and maintenance of technical systems. (Photograph: Robotic Systems Lab / ETH Zurich)<h2 id="isPasted">Robots clearly better – in terms of components</h2>The initial result surprised even the researcher: if one compares the individual components of machines and humans such as microphones with ears, cameras with eyes or drive systems with muscles, the technical components always fare better in terms of key sensory-motor properties. These days, for instance, carbon fibres are used, which are harder than bones. If we disregard other properties of the human bone, such as the fact that it is self-healing, the technical solution is clearly superior in terms of mechanical features. The baffling thing, as the ETH professor explains, is as follows: “The question that arises is why we are not able today to construct a robot from these high-quality components that has better powers of movement and perception than humans.”Which brings us to the second result of this comprehensive study: if we consider the activities that humans and machines are asked to carry out, humans are generally superior to robots. Although humanoid robots are also able to walk and run, if we set walking or running speed in relation to body dimensions, weight or energy consumption, most robots are no longer able to keep pace. At 6.1 metres per second, robot MIT-Cheetah runs faster than a jogging human and accordingly lives up to its name. However, the four-legged robot has a high energy consumption (973 watts) and is also only deployed under laboratory conditions. Humans also significantly outperform robots in terms of endurance versus operating time. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Karate Kid with stiff joints<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1699581515083-image.imageformat.textdouble.19354851.jpg" style="width: 304px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Humanoid iCub in child size from 2009. (Photograph: IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia)</h2>Robots benefit for certain functions from their precision. “For example, when balancing on one leg, robots can easily stiffen their joints, while humans tend to wobble a bit – which costs considerably more energy. Robots can also precisely recognise their joint angles and repeat movements very accurately, which is pretty impressive and somewhat reminiscent of Karate Kid,” says Robert Riener.The results are more mixed for another movement function – picking up objects: while robots can pick up objects extremely quickly, they are not yet able to outdo us regarding our many different hand movements and the manipulative skills of our fingers. And another weakness of robots emerges with regard to various movements such as swimming, crawling and jumping as they are only able to perform some of these movements. By contrast, most humans are easily capable of performing and combining several of these movements. Playing football is cited in the new study as an example of this: machines are still a long way from dribbling, heading or analyse and interprete the strategy of the other players. &nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1699581594040-1699581594040.png" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2 id="isPasted">Robots can support us in the future</h2>Are humanoid robots today therefore still just a gimmick? “No, the progress made by robotics in recent years is incredible. We wish to have robots around us so that they can help us with difficult or dangerous tasks. However, our manmade environments are very complex, and it’s therefore not so easy for robots to function here autonomously and without error. Nevertheless, I’m confident that with the powerful technical components that are available we will soon be able to construct more intelligent robots that are capable of interacting with us humans better,” says Riener. An important next step according to Riener is to go to greater lengths in terms of system engineering and automatic control technology in order to combine the existing powerful components better.Deployment would then be conceivable, for example, in nursing and home care, the construction industry or in the household – i.e. wherever support is urgently needed in order to relieve staff and to support people with limited mobility, for instance.<hr><h2 id="isPasted">Reference</h2>Riener, R., Rabezzana, L., Zimmermann, Y: Do Robots Outperform Humans in Human-Centered Domains? Frontiers, Volume 10, November 2023, doi: <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2023.1223946/abstract" target="_blank">external page10.3389/frobt.2023.1223946</a>

A new ETH study compares 27 humanoid robots with humans and comes to the conclusion that while robots have better components, they are still not capable of achieving as much. However, according to the authors of the study, the machines are catching up.

Humans are far superior to robots

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/2023/Brain-machine-interfaces-for-insects-to-study-principles-of-odor-guided-navigation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">McKelvey School of Engineering</a> and has been republished with permission.<hr><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dBNOGbF-e7E?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;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" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>The locust follows a pleasant scent on a treadmill. (Credit: Raman lab)The inviting smell of a freshly baked cookie immediately triggers a motor response to search for the source of that smell. Often the cookie can be easily found.This everyday event that we perform without a thought is an amazing feat that combines our superior ability to smell the cookie and computational prowess to determine the directions to move toward the cookie. Robots that possess similar capabilities are yet to be developed as the basic biological principles that are needed to perform this task are yet to be fully understood. &nbsp;The ability to study neural responses in behaving insects is essential to understanding the robust solutions biological systems have developed for several engineering problems. For example, locusts have survived for at least 8 million years — longer than humans have been on this planet — in nearly all parts of the earth. Their many remarkable capabilities include seeing, hearing and smelling things that humans cannot sense, jumping multiple times their body length, the uncanny ability to fly up to 100 kilometers a day, and switching between solitary and menacing swarms phases as needed for survival. They use these capabilities to find food, avoid predators, propagate their species, and do all things necessary to keep them alive. Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have long sought to understand the power of the locusts’ sensing, computing and locomotory capabilities.Barani Raman, professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering, is leading a multidisciplinary team to study how the locust brain transforms sensory input into behavior with a four-year, $4.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NCS) program. The grant converges years of research in Raman’s lab with that of his longtime WashU collaborators, including Shantanu Chakrabartty, professor of electrical &amp; systems engineering, and Srikanth Singamaneni, professor of mechanical engineering &amp; materials science, as well as Alexandra Rutz, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and Yehuda Ben-Shahar, professor of biology, also at WashU.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1697685410077-ezgif-5-9129b96817.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering have long sought to understand the power of the locusts’ sensing, computing and locomotory capabilities. With a $4.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation, they will converge that research to develop a “cyborg,” or mobile robot or drone, that can mimic the locusts’ behaviors. (Credit: Raman lab)“Insects are an engineering marvel,” Raman said. “They possess diverse sensing modalities and locomotory responses yet contained in such a small package. We want to engineer tools to study the amazing capabilities of these relatively simpler organisms.”The research brings together Washington University’s strengths in neural engineering, integrated circuits, biomaterials, synthetic biology and genetic engineering to understand how the insects use olfactory cues to navigate toward an odor source, which could potentially be used for various applications, such as detecting gas left on in the kitchen or as the proverbial canary in the coal mine to test spaces for hazardous chemicals. In 2024, the team plans to launch the first-of-its-kind Center for Cyborg and Biorobotics Research (CyBoR) to formally conduct the research.&nbsp;The team plans to study the neural response in the locusts’ brains by having the locusts follow a specific odor on a specially built treadmill while walking on a foam ball and while flying in a wind tunnel. By studying their movements and neural activity in the brain in response to these odors, the team can process the information using a custom microchip to develop a “cyborg,” or mobile robot or drone, that can mimic the locusts’ behaviors. They also aim to augment the locusts’ ability to detect certain odors over others.“Nature already has endowed this organism with various capabilities, so why not understand and augment those capabilities using synthetic mechanisms?” asked Chakrabartty, whose expertise is in sensors and integrated circuits. “Ultimately, our goal is to design a completely synthetic system that has similar remarkable capabilities.”While the team has already joined forces to create recording instruments and nanomaterials to manipulate neural and behavioral responses, they will continue to improve on those as they develop the bio-hybrid and mobile robotic systems.&nbsp;“One of the important challenges in these studies is the limited stability of the neural recording and stimulation electrodes and interfaces over a long period,” said Singamaneni, whose expertise is in novel bio- and nanomaterials. “We aim to design and realize novel anti-inflammatory electrodes and biointerfaces that will enable stable long-term neural recording and stimulation.”Previously, <a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/2016/Engineers-to-use-cyborg-insects-as-biorobotic-sensing-machines.html" target="_blank">the research team developed a miniature “backpack”</a> containing sensors that recorded the locusts’ brain activity when exposed to the odors. However, the existing backpack is too heavy for the locusts to wear while flying, so the team will work to reduce its weight.At Washington University, the research is underway in a state-of-the-art CyBoR facility that includes the habitat for the locusts, the treadmill, the wind tunnel, specialized microscopes, and space for visiting researchers as well as for visitors interested in learning about the insects. WashU students also will be included in the research as well as students from the community through various outreach programs.&nbsp;Other co-investigators include Alper Bozkurt, distinguished professor of electrical &amp; computer engineering at North Carolina State University, who will lead efforts on instrumentation for navigation control; Sawyer Fuller, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, who will lead efforts to build miniaturized robots that incorporate both biological and engineering elements; and Nabil Imam, assistant professor of computational science and engineering at Georgia Tech, who will lead the development of neuromorphic algorithms and hardware in the bio-hybrid and robotic systems.

Barani Raman, professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering, is leading a multidisciplinary team to study how the locust brain transforms sensory input into behavior with a four-year, $4.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NCS) program. 

Brain-machine interfaces for insects to study principles of odor-guided navigation

Unitree launched its first humanoid robot H1 on August 15. Showcasing six months of hard work, the H1 humanoid stands about 71 inches (1800mm) tall, but only weighs about 100 lbs (47kg) and boasts unmatched power.

Meet the Unitree H1: a humanoid general-purpose robot starts a new industrial revolution!

In this episode, we discuss the accidental discovery of how amputees can sense temperature in their phantom limbs and how EPFL researchers have exploited this to develop the first generation of prosthetics that can feel.

Podcast: Amputees Feel Warmth In Their Missing Hand

 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

<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

In general, silicone based conductive pastes are rare and the versions with AgCl fillers- needed for many medical wearable applications- are even rarer! <a data-attribute-index="0" data-entity-hovercard-id="urn:li:fs_miniProfile:ACoAACBPPG0BiuMqPPP9xTDFydt590kiUA2t-Us" data-entity-type="MINI_PROFILE" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACoAACBPPG0BiuMqPPP9xTDFydt590kiUA2t-Us" id="isPasted" target="_blank">David Dewey</a> from <a data-attribute-index="2" data-entity-hovercard-id="urn:li:fs_miniCompany:27073286" data-entity-type="MINI_COMPANY" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/fujikura-kasei-co-ltd/" target="_blank">FUJIKURA KASEI Co Ltd</a> unveiled this paste for the first time in June at <a data-attribute-index="4" data-entity-hovercard-id="urn:li:fs_miniCompany:71510477" data-entity-type="MINI_COMPANY" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/techblick/" target="_blank">TechBlick</a>. The pastes can offer 1-10 E-4 ohm/sqr when cured at 150C for 30min or so on substrates such as PET or silicone sheet.&nbsp;These inks are compatible with other silicone-based (insulator, adhesive, etc) out of Fujikura&#39;s portfolio, enabling one to print complex multi-layer medical wearable devices on stretchable substrates like silicone!The short video below offers further information<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/739956599" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 774px; height: 476px;"></iframe>

In general, silicone based conductive pastes are rare and the versions with AgCl fillers- needed for many medical wearable applications- are even rarer! 

Stretchable silicone-based medical devices with AgCl fillers?

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

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

In this episode, we talk about how engineers inspired by some of biology&rsquo;s most miniature wonders (like dandelions&#39; seeds and microorganisms&#39; cilia) are using their knowledge to make major breakthroughs in biosensing, robotics, biomedical engineering, and more. &nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/10c09f29-5a05-4710-b0e0-b25e0d139652?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><hr>This podcast is sponsored by <a href="https://www2.mouser.com/" id="isPasted" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mouser Electronics</a>. &nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1656328852054-Mouser-sponsor-1-a.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><hr><h3 id="isPasted">EPISODE NOTES</h3>(0:55) - <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/inspired-by-dandelion-seeds-these-tiny-battery-free-sensor-systems-ride-the-wind" target="_blank">Dandelion Inspired Sensors</a> 🍃(11:45) - <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/self-propelled-endlessly-programmable-artificial-cilia" target="_blank">Microscale Robotic Cilia</a> 🦠<hr>As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.To learn more about this show, please visit our<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">&nbsp;shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published. Be sure to give us a follow and review on<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" target="_blank">&nbsp;Apple</a> podcasts,<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" target="_blank">&nbsp;Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!

This prototype sensor, pictured by Mark Stone at the University of Washington, disperses itself on the wind and harvests sunlight for energy.

In this episode, we talk about how engineers inspired by some of biology’s most miniature wonders (like dandelions' seeds and microorganisms' cilia) are using their knowledge to make major breakthroughs in biosensing, robotics, biomedical engineering, and more.

Podcast: Size Matters: Tiny Biomimicry Leads to Big Breakthroughs

The skin of cephalopods, such as octopuses, squids and cuttlefish, is stretchy and smart, contributing to these creatures&rsquo; ability to sense and respond to their surroundings. A Penn State-led collaboration has harnessed these properties to create an artificial skin that mimics both the elasticity and the neurologic functions of cephalopod skin, with potential applications for neurorobotics, skin prosthetics, artificial organs and more.  &nbsp;Led by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bme.psu.edu/department/directory-detail-g.aspx?q=cmy5358" target="_blank">Cunjiang Yu</a>, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, the team published its findings on June 1 in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2204852119" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. &nbsp;Cephalopod skin is a soft organ that can endure complex deformations, such as expanding, contracting, bending and twisting. It also possesses cognitive sense-and-respond functions that enable the skin to sense light, react and camouflage its wearer. While artificial skins with either these physical or these cognitive capabilities have existed previously, according to Yu, until now none has simultaneously exhibited both qualities &mdash; the combination needed for advanced, artificially intelligent bioelectronic skin devices.  &nbsp;&ldquo;Although several artificial camouflage skin devices have been recently developed, they lack critical noncentralized neuromorphic processing and cognition capabilities, and materials with such capabilities lack robust mechanical properties,&rdquo; Yu said. &ldquo;Our recently developed soft synaptic devices have achieved brain-inspired computing and artificial nervous systems that are sensitive to touch and light that retain these neuromorphic functions when biaxially stretched.&rdquo;  &nbsp;To simultaneously achieve both smartness and stretchability, the researchers constructed synaptic transistors entirely from elastomeric materials. These rubbery semiconductors operate in a similar fashion to neural connections, exchanging critical messages for system-wide needs, impervious to physical changes in the system&rsquo;s structure. The key to creating a soft skin device with both cognitive and stretching capabilities, according to Yu, was using elastomeric rubbery materials for every component. This approach resulted in a device that can successfully exhibit and maintain neurological synaptic behaviors, such as image sensing and memorization, even when stretched, twisted and poked 30% beyond a natural resting state.  &nbsp;&ldquo;With the recent surge of smart skin devices, implementing neuromorphic functions into these devices opens the door for a future direction toward more powerful biomimetics,&rdquo; Yu said. &ldquo;This methodology for implementing cognitive functions into smart skin devices could be extrapolated into many other areas, including neuromorphic computing wearables, artificial organs, soft neurorobotics and skin prosthetics for next-generation intelligent systems.&rdquo; &nbsp;The Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program and the National Science Foundation supported this work.&nbsp;Yu is also affiliated with the Material Research Institute and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. &nbsp;Co-authors include Hyunseok Shim, Seonmin Jang and Shubham Patel, Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics; Anish Thukral and Bin Kan, University of Houston Department of Mechanical Engineering; Seongsik Jeong, Hyeson Jo and Hai-Jin Kim, Gyeongsang National University School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Guodan Wei, Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute; and Wei Lan, Lanzhou University School of Physical Science and Technology. &nbsp;

A Penn State-led collaboration developed an artificial skin made completely of rubber that mimics both the elasticity and cognitive characteristics found in octopuses and other cephalopods.    Credit: Volodymyr Ivanenko/iStock. All Rights Reserved.

Penn State-led researchers develop first artificial skin to maintain cognitive characteristics when deformed.

Rubbery camouflage skin exhibits smart and stretchy behaviors

<section id="isPasted">In industry, people work with robots. While this can accelerate productivity, it does come with health and safety risks. As a result, some robots must be kept separate from human workers. This comes at a heavy financial cost and negatively affects human-robot interactions. If there were sensors on robots to detect a person, then these issues could be solved, but current sensors rely on impractical, rigid, and thick electronics. TU/e researchers have designed a way to make flexible, thin, and accurate sensor electronics that outperform many current sensors. The new breakthrough is published in the Nature Electronics.</section><section tabindex="-1">Our world is filled with robots. From robot vacuum cleaners to robot dog walkers, we have incorporated robots in many aspects of daily life. In industry, robots have helped to automate many tasks, and in the process, they provide both an accuracy and speed that are beyond human capabilities.However, that doesn&rsquo;t mean that humans and robots do not work closely together in industry. &ldquo;Many industrial operations require close human-robot interactions&rdquo;, says researcher Marco Fattori from the department of Electrical Engineering and the TU/e startup MicroAlign. &ldquo;This means that the robots need accurate proximity sensors to check if someone gets too close to the robot. Once someone is detected, the robot shuts down to prevent any injuries to the person.&rdquo;Many of the current sensors are based on silicon components, but these are rigid and thick, which makes it difficult and costly to place them on the surface of the robot.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1654095377288-csm_Fattori+Flexible+electronics_29eb6db461.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Source: Marco Fattori.&nbsp;<h2 id="isPasted">New flexible printed electronics</h2>&ldquo;The alternative is flexible printed electronics, but this kind of electronics has lower capabilities compared to silicon chips,&rdquo; notes Eugenio Cantatore from the department of Electrical Engineering. &ldquo;Flexible electronics are slow and noisy, which negatively affects its accuracy. But unlike silicon sensors, the flexible ones can be placed over large surface areas, are cheap to make, and can be produced in large quantities.&rdquo;So, to solve the issue of making accurate flexible electronics, Fattori and Cantatore, in collaboration with researchers based in France, Austria, and the UK developed new flexible electronics made by printing organic materials based on polymers. The printing approach allows for the placement of front-end electronics (the first electronics layer after the sensor) in each pixel of the device.&ldquo;In effect, we printed electronics on a plastic or foil sheet, then we placed the sensors on another foil. After that we laminated the two foils together, leading to an ultra-flexible and thin sensor,&rdquo; says Fattori. &ldquo;This combination enhances signal quality in comparison to previous sensors.&rdquo;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1654095428535-csm_Fattori+Main+text+Robot+in+action+CROPPED_dda1c5c3cf.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Source: Marco Fattori.&nbsp;<h2 id="isPasted">The robot arm</h2>For this study, the researchers placed long-wavelength infrared organic pyroelectric sensors (heat sensors) in the flexible foil. &ldquo;We created a large flexible sheet filled with heat sensors that can be used to cover a structure, such as a robotic arm for example,&rdquo; says Cantatare.And that&rsquo;s exactly what the researchers did. They wrapped a flexible sheet of heat sensors around a robotic arm to simulate an industrial work environment where a human works close to a robot.&ldquo;The flexible sensor acts like a sort of &lsquo;artificial skin&rsquo; for the robot. The heat sensors allow the robot to detect the presence of a moveable heat source, such as a person, from a distance of up to 0.4 meters away,&rdquo; notes Fattori. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s more, the sensors can also detect a human hand approaching from different directions and not just from directly in front of it.&rdquo; &nbsp;<h2>Great promise</h2>Besides applications in industry with robots, the researchers note that the ability to produce affordable flexible sensors could be useful in numerous other fields, such as healthcare.For example, they could be used to map pressure distributions on a mattress, and thus help patients avoid bedsores. In addition, they could be used to check if elderly people experience falls in their home or in care homes by embedding sensors in the floors. These kind of sensors could even be adapted to monitor the integrity of airplane wings.This research is part of a complex European collaborative project called ATLASS. &ldquo;After years of work, we have demonstrated for the first time with a practical, useful example, the great promise of low-cost printed sensing surfaces that include electronics,&rdquo; says Cantatore. &ldquo;We are excited to use these results to initiate new research endeavors at TU/e.&rdquo;<hr><h3>Paper information</h3><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41928-022-00762-6" target="_blank">A printed proximity-sensing surface based on organic pyroelectric sensors and organic thin-film transistor electronics</a>, Fattori et al, Nature Electronics (2022).<style type="text/css" id="isPasted"></style><style type="text/css"></style>This article was first published here:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/30-05-2022-new-printing-method-for-artificial-skin-containing-heat-sensors/" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/30-05-2022-new-printing-method-for-artificial-skin-containing-heat-sensors/</a></section>

Robot arms could become safer in industrial settings by applying an artificial skin containing proximity heat sensors to detect humans in all directions.

New printing method for artificial "skin" containing heat sensors

In this episode, we talk about how ostriches are inspiring a new generation of bipedal robots and the innovation enabling remote endovascular surgery. As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/e2238814-9212-4010-afb6-ac48d637140f?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><hr>This podcast is sponsored by <a href="https://www2.mouser.com/" id="isPasted" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mouser Electronics</a>.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1651565842197-Mouser-sponsor-1-a.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><hr>(0:50) -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/birdbot-a-3d-printed-bipedal-robot-offers-major-efficiency-gains-through-avian-biomimicry" target="_blank">Using Bird Biology To Make Efficient Walking Robots</a>(20:45) -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/joystick-operated-robot-could-help-surgeons-treat-stroke-remotely" target="_blank">Joystick-operated Robot For Treating Strokes</a>Episode 68 was brought to you by Mouser Electronics, Farbod &amp; Daniel&rsquo;s favorite electronics distributor. Click <a href="https://www.mouser.com/applications/future-robotics-singularity/" target="_blank">here</a> to read the article discussing the merger of technology and humanity.<hr>About the podcast:Every day, some of the most innovative universities, companies, and individual technology developers share their knowledge on Wevolver. To ensure we can also provide this knowledge for the growing group of podcast listeners, we started a collaboration with two young engineers, Daniel Scott Mitchell &amp; Farbod Moghaddam who discuss the most interesting content in this podcast series.&nbsp;To learn more about this show, please visit the <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published.Be sure to give us a follow and review on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple</a> podcasts, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!Take a few seconds to leave us a review. It really helps! <a href="https://apple.co/2RIsbZ2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://apple.co/2RIsbZ2&nbsp;</a>if you do it and send us proof, we&rsquo;ll give you a shoutout on the show.

The prototype motorized BirdBot, seen here with legs in the locked position, uses a quarter the energy of its immediate predecessor.

In this episode, we talk about how ostriches are inspiring a new generation of bipedal robots and the innovation enabling remote endovascular surgery. 

humanoids

Profiles