Someday, robots swathed in pressure-sensitive electronics may feel their environment. That’s the vision of Japanese researchers who have laminated a rubbery, pressure-sensing membrane onto a flexible layer of plastic transistors to create a primitive artificial skin.
Engineers Takao Someya and Takayasu Sakurai of the University of Tokyo have demonstrated that pressing the tip of a thin metal bar against this faux skin generates a weak electric signal at the point of contact.