Scientists create synthetic skin. Skinthetic?

Independent teams of researchers at Stanford and Berkeley have both published their progress in creating synthetic, touch-sensitive skin. With the aim of mimicking human skin, the two materials offer very similar results, though through very different means.

Stanford University’s professor of chemistry Zhenan Bao used organic electronics with an elastic polymer stretched over it to create an electric skin, which is apparently 1000 times more sensitive than ours and able to sense a butterfly landing on it. A usable prototype is expected by the end of the year.

Berkeley’s team used nanowire semiconductors overlaid on a conductive rubber sheet embedded with transistors, sensing touch through changes in the electrical impedance when the rubber is depressed.

Applications for these “skinthetic” surfaces (you heard it here at Spectra Magazine first, folks!) range from new skin for prostheses, artificial grafts for burn victims, bio-mechanical devices able to collect tactile information about their surroundings, and the interactions of artificial intelligence with humans.

Of course, there’s another use reason for creating synthetic skin: Terminators!

[Via PhysicsCentral]