On October 16th 2015, researchers at Stanford University announced that they had created artificial skin that could feel pressure. This development is expected to one day give prosthetic limbs a sense of touch. The researchers say that the plastic skin is capable of distinguishing the strength of a hand shake and can send that information to the central nervous system. The break through was made by Zhenan Bao, professor of chemical engineering and her team, and was a decade in development.
Dr. Bao and her coworkers made the artificial skin by connecting, microstructured resistive pressure sensors, flexible organic electronic circuits, and nerve cells that contained light activated ion channels. The sensors, which measured conductance in response to applied pressure, were made of carbon nanotube elastomer that coated the surface. Each sensor was then connected to an organic printed circuit that converted the pressure signal into electrical impulses that increased in frequency in response to an increase in pressure.
From there, the electrical impulses were used to modulate the frequency of a light emitting diode (LED). Light from the LED was fed through an optical fiber which then stimulated a slice of mouse brain tissue. The nerve cells in the mouse brain tissue were treated with channelrhodosins that opened and closed in response to light, which triggered the nerve cells to fire.
Dr Bao said, "This is just the beginning of the path toward building fully integrated artificial skin." She and her team hope to mimic other human sensing functions, such as the ability to feel heat.
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