(September 12, 2010) Stanford researchers have developed an
ultrasensitive, highly flexible, electronic sensor that can feel a touch as
light as an alighting fly. Manufactured
in large sheets, the sensors could be used in artificial electronic skin for
prosthetic limbs, robots, touch-screen displays, automobile safety and a range
of medical applications.
The light, tickling tread of a
pesky fly landing on your face may strike most of us as one of the most
aggravating of life's small annoyances.
But for scientists working to develop pressure sensors for artificial
skin for use on prosthetic limbs or robots, skin sensitive enough to feel the
tickle of fly feet would be a huge advance.
Now Stanford researchers have built such a sensor.
By sandwiching a precisely
molded, highly elastic rubber layer between two parallel electrodes, the team
created an electronic sensor that can detect the slightest touch.
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