Vivek Maheshwari and Ravi Saraf of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have created an electroluminescent thin film that has tactile sensitivity close to that of human fingertips. The EFT translates the tactile pressure into a picture. This could allow for dexterous robotic motions and tasks that were impossible before. For instance, the robot could grasp an item, and if they image begins to slide, just as the object begins to slide out of its hand, it could compensate with a tighter grip. Also, now touch recognition becomes a very real reality. We take this ability for granted on a minute to minute basis. Now a robot could sense fiber count and softness. It could feel your face in the dark and know who you are (of course, it could do this with infrared and other things too). Tactile sense could also alert a robot to potential dangers in the environment, much like it does for us. And what about the uses in the medical field? Suddenly, remote surgeries, maybe with tactile feedback to the surgeon who is thousands of miles away, become much more feasible.
[tags]EFT, robotic tactile technology, electroluminescent thin film[/tags]
(Source: Scientific American , by Karen Schrock)
(Photo Source: Scientific American)
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
Recent Comments