Artificial Skin Could Bring Superhuman Perception

A new sensor has been developed to create artificial skin which helps burn victims ‘feel’ and even give superman sensory perception, University of Connecticut researchers stated in a newly-released paper of Advanced Materials.

Jams Rusling and Islam Mosa, who are chemists from the University of Connecticut, along with Abdelsalam Ahmed as an engineer from the University of Toronto, have introduced a sensor which can imitate the skin sensing properties to feel cold, heat, pressure, vibration and others.

The researchers created this sensor by leveraging many silicone tubes covered in copper wire and full of a fluid, which derived from little iron-oxide particles with the length of not exceeding 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter.

The nanoparticles are in contact with the interior of silicone tubes and generate an electric current. Then the copper wire considers the kind of current as a signal.

Furthermore, different changes such as heat, sound, pressure, vibration generate different fluid characteristic movements, creating many different signals. So an artificial skin user could detect the differences of various change kinds in the environment.

Our skin can perceive different changes in the environment, however, there are also undetectable things. When creating a new sensor, Islam Mosa hoped that it could exceed the ability of human senses. Mosa said:

The researchers realised magnetic fields could replace the signal away from sound waves or pressure. This creates new opportunities for a rapid warning system for employees working in extremely robust magnetic fields.

The artificial skin is completely waterproof, so it can be used as a monitor to warn parents whether their children fell into a pool or not, for example.

Then the researchers want to design a sensor in a flat surface, more natural human skin and check its resistance towards cold and heat although they completely hope to see responses from both because the temperature affects electrical conductivity and fluid dynamics.

The ability of our skin to perceive heat, pressure and other factors is a safety function that most people doesn't realize its importance. For example, pain, heat or cold warns human to danger.

Although it sounds good to be unaware of a heavy burn pain, it still becomes worse when continuing to expose the skin to extremely high temperature which destroys it and can lead to dangerous infections.

It is a practical problem for burn victims because their scar tissue forming over the heavily burned skin areas has lost the skin sensitivity to feel important stimuli.