Digital Skin Devices: Fundamentals and Applications in Printing Technology

Abstract

This paper discusses the fundamental chemical and electrical properties, as well as the practical applications, of a digital skin device developed by the authors to provide tactile sensation for soft robots. Electronic artificial skin (e-skin) devices can electrically detect tactile sensations that humans typically perceive, such as pressure, slip, temperature, and humidity. To date, we have successfully demonstrated the detection of pressure, temperature, slip, humidity, hardness, and acceleration using our digital skin device. In this study, we specifically focus on the detection of pressure and slip as fundamental tactile modalities. Additionally, we present a wearable sensing system capable of accurately identifying object hardness by analyzing acquired tactile signals using artificial intelligence (machine learning).