Scientist Invents Self-Healing Artificial Electronic Skin

AHA Publisher — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 07:00:36 +0000

Abigail Klein Leichman via Israel21c – The new polymeric elastic and waterproof and can heal itself, just like human skin does after an injury. A doctoral student at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa has invented a soft polymer that could be used as a self-healing high-tech “skin.” Muhammad Khatib’s polymer is elastic and waterproof. It can heal itself if scratched, cut or twisted, or in the event of a disruption to its electrical conductivity and chemical sensing capabilities. This “e-skin” could be used in a range of applications in the fields of robotics, prosthetics and wearable devices. Khatib, who conducts his research at the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Technion under the guidance of Prof. Hossam Haick, presented his innovative inventions in two papers in the journals Advanced Materials and Advanced Functional Materials. “The e‐skin is empowered with a novel self‐repair capability that consists of an intrinsic mechanism for efficient self‐healing of small‐scale damages as well as an extrinsic mechanism for damage mapping and on‐demand self‐healing of big‐scale damages in designated locations,” writes Khatib. “The electronic platform lays down the foundation for the development of a new subcategory of self‐healing devices in which electronic circuit design is used for self‐monitoring, healing, and restoring proper device function.” Inspired by natural mammal skin, scientists have put a great deal of effort into developing artificial electronic materials and devices with similar properties. These types of systems require soft materials whose functioning is not permanently harmed by distortions or tears. This is the problem that motivated Khatib to invent polymers that can heal themselves, just like human skin does after an injury. Khatib’s self‐healing stretchable conductive pathways were made by embedding silver nanowires or carbon nanotubes into the surface of the polymer. Self-Healing Even Under Water Khatib’s first project, presented in Advanced Functional Materials, describes the planning, building and implementation of elastomer – elastic and resilient polymer – that is water resistant, strong and capable of stretching to 1,100 percent of its original length without tearing. It can heal itself, even when soaked in tapwater, seawater, and water with varying levels of acidity. If mechanical damage to the polymer occurs when it is submerged in water, it knows how to heal itself and prevent electrical leakages from the device to the water. The second project, presented in Advanced Materials, is an e-skin containing a sensory system composed of nanometric materials that selectively and simultaneously monitor environmental variables such as pressure, temperature, and acidity. Inspired by the healing process of human skin, Khatib included an innovative autonomous self-healing system in the artificial skin. This system consists of neuron-like components that monitor damage to the system’s electronic parts, and other components that accelerate the self-healing process in the damaged places. This mechanism of self-healing enables the smart electronic systems to self-monitor their activities and repair functional problems caused by mechanical damage. “The new sensory platform is a universal system that displays stable functioning in both dry and wet environments, and it is capable of containing additional types of chemical and physical (electronic) sensors,” Khatib explained. “Both projects that were now published pave the way for new paths and new strategies in the development of skin-inspired electronic sensing platforms that can be integrated into wearable devices and electronic skins for advanced robots and artificial organs.” Khatib’s partners in the research are lab director Walaa Saliba; researcher Orr Zohar, who worked on developing the sensors and their attributes; and Prof. Simcha Srebnik, who worked on molecular simulations that clarify the capabilities of the new polymer. The research was carried out with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a grant from the A-Patch project, part of the EU Horizon 2020 program. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

The post Scientist Invents Self-Healing Artificial Electronic Skin appeared first on Amazing Health Advances.

Flexible Artificial Skin Shows Promise for Real-World Applications

AHA Publisher — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 07:00:16 +0000

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne via News Medical Net – “This is the first time we have developed an entirely soft artificial skin where both sensors and actuators are integrated. This gives us closed-loop control, which means we can accurately and reliably modulate the vibratory stimulation felt by the user. This is ideal for wearable applications, such as for testing a patient’s proprioception in medical applications.” Just like our senses of hearing and vision, our sense of touch plays an important role in how we perceive and interact with the world around us. And technology capable of replicating our sense of touch – also known as haptic feedback – can greatly enhance human-computer and human-robot interfaces for applications such as medical rehabilitation and virtual reality. Scientists at EPFL’s Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL), headed by Jamie Paik, and Laboratory for Soft Bioelectronic Interfaces (LSBI), headed by Stéphanie Lacour at the School of Engineering, have teamed up to develop a soft, flexible artificial skin made of silicone and electrodes. Both labs are part of the NCCR Robotics program. The skin’s system of soft sensors and actuators enable the artificial skin to conform to the exact shape of a wearer’s wrist, for example, and provide haptic feedback in the form of pressure and vibration. Strain sensors continuously measure the skin’s deformation so that the haptic feedback can be adjusted in real time to produce a sense of touch that’s as realistic as possible. The scientists’ work has just been published in Soft Robotics. Haptics Sandwiched Between Silicone Layers The artificial skin contains soft pneumatic actuators that form a membrane layer which can be inflated by pumping air into it. The actuators can be tuned to varying pressures and frequencies (up to 100 Hz, or 100 impulses per second). The skin vibrates when the membrane layer is inflated and deflated rapidly. A sensor layer sits on top of the membrane layer and contains soft electrodes made of a liquid-solid gallium mixture. These electrodes measure the skin’s deformation continuously and send the data to a microcontroller, which uses this feedback to fine-tune the sensation transmitted to the wearer in response to the wearer’s movements and changes in external factors. The artificial skin can be stretched up to four times its original length for up to a million cycles. That makes it particularly attractive for a number of real-world applications. For now the scientists have tested it on users’ fingers and are still making improvements to the technology. “The next step will be to develop a fully wearable prototype for applications in rehabilitation and virtual and augmented reality,” says Sonar. “The prototype will also be tested in neuroscientific studies, where it can be used to stimulate the human body while researchers study dynamic brain activity in magnetic resonance experiments.” To read the original article click here.

The post Flexible Artificial Skin Shows Promise for Real-World Applications appeared first on Amazing Health Advances.

prosthetics Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Scientist Invents Self-Healing Artificial Electronic Skin

Flexible Artificial Skin Shows Promise for Real-World Applications