BREAKTHROUGH
A TEAM of Scots boffins have developed a robot “skin” that is able to “feel” pain and even detect sunburn.
It is believed the breakthrough will take technology to the next level as robots are increasingly used in place of humans.
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Meanwhile, a new form of flexible photodetector could provide future machines with an electronic skin capable of seeing light beyond the range of human vision - that could also help prevent skin cancer in humans.
Professor Ravinder Dahiya, of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, said: “We’ve been working for a number of years now to advance the capabilities of flexible electronics.
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“We’ve found new ways to print electronics directly onto flexible surfaces, built electronic skin capable of feeling ‘pain’, and developed bendable electronics which can be powered by the sun or human sweat.”
However, the leading academic also believes wearing a patch of second electronic skin could benefit mankind.
He says: “You could develop skin with radiation sensors for workers going into a nuclear power plant so you know what the radiation levels are.
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“In summer time we may go to the beach for the sunshine, but how do we know how much UV light we are being exposed to?"
“Having a photodetector on a second skin could give you a measure of the UV exposure and possibly prevent skin cancer.”
In order to test the system’s durability, they subjected the material to a rigorous set of tests in a machine designed to bend and twist it hundreds of times.
Over the course of 500 cycles, the material demonstrated no significant loss in performance.