Electronic Sensor Rivals Sensitivity of Human Skin 39
ananyo writes "A flexible electronic sensor made from interlocking hairs can detect the gentle steps of a ladybird and distinguish between shear and twisting forces. The sensor consists of two interlocking sheets of nanofibres. When the sensor sheet is pressed, twisted or brushed, the squishy, metal-coated hairs change position, generating changes in the sensor's electrical resistance (abstract). Such subtle tactile input would be very useful for robots designed to interact with people, says Matei Ciocarlie, a scientist at robotics company Willow Garage. 'Skin has been an overlooked part of robotics,' says Ciocarlie, because it poses such a challenging problem: in addition to being robust, sensitive and flexible, it needs to be made in very large sheets."
Just what we need... (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe now, at the airport, we can get a robot to feel my junk instead.
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Re:Just what we need... (Score:4, Funny)
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I can see tech support now.
Tech Support - "Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on?"
Passenger - "It's crushing my fucking nuts!! I can't see shit man. Where's the fucking power button?!"
Tech Support - "Sir, I cannot help you if you continue to use such language. Please wait for a supervisor"
Supervisor - "What version of Windows are you using?"
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I tried pursuing this research myself and comparing the results with co-eds, but the University dismissed me for some reason.
That was because the co-eds refused to participate in your research so you had zero results to compare with. Mate, you should leave some branches of research to people who are more qualified.
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Skin has been an overlooked part of robotics", says Ciocarlie, because it poses such a challenging problem: in addition to being robust, sensitive and flexible, it needs to be made in very large sheets."
Yes. And it needs to feel good to the person touching it or who is being touched by it.
They also need to have the skin have different textures and colors. For example - and it's the only one I can think of - skin needs to feel different between an arm and a female nipple. Also, the nipples need to be able to change as if during sexual excitement.
The other thing they need to do is to allow skin to secret fluids. For example - it's the first thing that popped in my head - a vagina and differentiate between sexual arousal or lack thereof. And also produce sweat.such when - just the first thing that popped in my head, again - sexual arousal and intercourse.
Also, anal tissue needs to feel different and be resistant to personal lubricants..
These are just some thoughts I've had on where robotic science could take their research on artificial skin.
I tried pursuing this research myself and comparing the results with co-eds, but the University dismissed me for some reason.
Wow. Science is just at the preliminary stages of being able to provide a decent sense of touch to a machine and you already want to fuck it.
Very nice (Score:5, Interesting)
This is useful. There have been various other attempts at building a robot skin with sensors, but they haven't been very good. Arrays of pressure sensors, like a touch screen, have been built, but nothing has been good enough to be really useful.
Being able to sense shear forces is very useful when picking up something. One of the low-level reflexes in the body is the one that maintains contact with things you're holding, applying enough pressure to keep the object from slipping, but not much more than that. Robots need that, too.
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This is useful. There have been various other attempts at building a robot skin with sensors, but they haven't been very good. Arrays of pressure sensors, like a touch screen, have been built, but nothing has been good enough to be really useful.
The big problem with most of the solutions I've seen is that they wear out pretty fast. Skin is self-renewing, rubber isn't. But I wonder if a replaceable rubber skin and capacitance sensing won't wind up being the big winner.
Re:Very nice (Score:5, Funny)
A replaceable rubber sheath will decrease the sensitivity, and irresponsible robots in the heat of lifting boxes might forget to put it on in spite of the protection it provides.
nanfibres (Score:1)
nanfibres
Electronic sensor is PEOPLE!
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I was wondering if the fibers flew through the air shitting out rainbows while a silly tune played in the background.
It makes my mouth water (Score:2)
The sensor consists of two interlocking sheets of nanfibres.
Hmmm nanfibres, can I have some chicken biryani with it?
Careful euphemisms (Score:2)
Such subtle tactile input would be very useful for robots designed to interact with people
In other words, this is for sexbots to react more effectively. Now more than ever we need to listen to the Space Pope: Don't Date Robots!
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Dude, you're not using your Cherry 500 correctly. You're not supposed to care about how it feels. Maybe in a later version...
Which ladybird? (Score:1)
-or-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Bird_Johnson/ [wikipedia.org]
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Durability (Score:2)
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sweet! (Score:3)
finally - better input (Score:2)
everyone has always known, garbage in garbage out.
If we can get better quality inputs into robotics, it will make the processing steps much easier.
The amount of information that comes from touch... being deaf or blind is a disadvantage, but having no sense of touch would be absolutely crippling for a human!
I have great hope that this will be a huge leap forward when it goes into production.
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Name spelling error (Score:2)
It's "Matei Ciocârlie", not "Matei Ciocarlie"
"â" is not "a". The same way as "w" is not replaceable with "vv" in english names.
The letter "â" can be easily written in HTML as "â"
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I wonder how he's spelling his own name on the Driving License... Very likely with "a" and not with "â"
Such a cold description... (Score:2)
...for such a beautiful gift.
... and ... (Score:2)