R-34
10-21-2005, 06:25 PM
A research group at the University of Tokyo has developed a new stretchable synthetic skin. The skin can be stuck onto a freeform curved surface of an egg and the like. It features a stress sensor able to measure up to 300 g/cm2 and a thermo sensor supporting up to +80°C. The research group confirmed efficiency of the stress sensor's measurement performance with stress given to the skin covering an egg surface. According to the research group, the thermo sensor also worked sufficiently. The research group has thus far developed synthetic skin that can be bent mechanically and only features a stress sensor. The previous synthetic skin could also be stuck onto a curved surface of a cylinder and similar shapes, but not to a freeform curved surface due to a lack of stretchability.
The newly developed synthetic skin is a sheet measuring 44 x 44 mm, with each of stress and thermo sensors aligned in 12 rows in both longitudinal and lateral directions in a matrix pattern. The thermo sensor film is layered upon the stress sensor film formed onto a plastic substrate using polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). To make the films stretchable, the synthetic skin is formed into a network, with part other than sensor and wired areas hollowed out. The wired area bends when tensile stress is given across the flat surface, while the films stretch as the shape of the hollowed area alters. The research group boasts the sensors worked without breaking at tests when the synthetic skin was stretched up to 1.25x in a direction across which tensile stress was given.
Satoshi Ookubo, Nikkei Electronics
The newly developed synthetic skin is a sheet measuring 44 x 44 mm, with each of stress and thermo sensors aligned in 12 rows in both longitudinal and lateral directions in a matrix pattern. The thermo sensor film is layered upon the stress sensor film formed onto a plastic substrate using polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). To make the films stretchable, the synthetic skin is formed into a network, with part other than sensor and wired areas hollowed out. The wired area bends when tensile stress is given across the flat surface, while the films stretch as the shape of the hollowed area alters. The research group boasts the sensors worked without breaking at tests when the synthetic skin was stretched up to 1.25x in a direction across which tensile stress was given.
Satoshi Ookubo, Nikkei Electronics