One of the most hoped-for features for prosthetic devices is being able to have a sense of touch. All the fine mechanics, motorized power, and dexterity that can be achieved in a robotic hand can’t be taken proper advantage of without feeling what it is you’re touching. Johns Hopkins researchers are working to make this a reality and they’ve developed an electronic skin, which they call “e-dermis,” that has tiny tactile sensors connected, via a computer, to existing peripheral nerves of the patient.
Made of a soft fabric and rubber seeded with the touch sensors that essentially reproduce the activity of nerve endings, the e-dermis can be wrapped around the fingertips of existing prostheses. The electronic skin can feel both touch and pain, and it transmits this feeling via transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to the existing nerves in the stump of the arm.
This was tried using a bebionic arm from RSLSteeper, a UK firm, and the man using it was able to feel things of different shapes while exhibiting a natural recoil when squeezing on sharp things.
The researchers are now planning on trying to integrate temperature sensing into the e-dermis, which is probably important, but perhaps not as critical as in a natural hand that can’t be swapped out for a new one if it gets melted on a hot frying pan.
Here’s a Hopkins video about the new technology:
Flashbacks: Smart Electronics Bring More Realistic Sense of Touch to Prosthetic Devices…; Breakthrough Prosthetic Arms With Feeling of Touch, Advanced Integration…; Robotic Hand Equipped with Stretchable Optical Touch Sensors…
Study in Science Robotics: Prosthesis with neuromorphic multilayered e-dermis perceives touch and pain…
Via: Johns Hopkins…