Baby Steps Toward Cybernetic Terminators: Robots Get Artificial Skin

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Jul 2, 2010, 5:15:34 PM7/2/10

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Baby Steps Toward Cybernetic Terminators: Robots Get Artificial Skin
Robots are breaking barriers: Long banished behind steel barriers, they are entering new fields of application such as the manufacturing, household and healthcare sectors. The requisite safety can be provided by a tactile sensor system, which can be integrated in a floor or applied directly to robots as an artificial skin. A mobile robot carefully transports a sample through a biotech lab where it is surrounded by the routine hustle and bustle. Lab technicians are conversing with one another and performing tests. One technician inadvertently runs into the robot, which stops moving immediately. An artificial skin covering the robot makes this possible. Consisting of conductive foam, textiles and an intelligent evaluation circuit, the sensor system detects points of contact and differentiates between gentle and strong contact. It registers people immediately. The shape and size of the sensor cells implemented in the skin can be varied depending on the application. They detect any contact. The higher the number of sensor cells, the more precisely a point of collision can be detected. A sensor controller processes the measured values and transmits them to the robot or, alternatively, a computer, a machine or production line.