MIT looks to tactile robotic skin
MIT commissions Peratech to develop a new type of "electronic skin" that allows robotic devices to detect that they have been touched, where they have been touched, and the pressure of the touch.
By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- EDN, February 22, 2010
MIT Media Lab has commissioned Peratech Ltd to develop a new type of “electronic skin” that allows robotic devices to detect that they have been touched, where they have been touched, and the pressure of the touch.
Peratech's sensing technology is based on its QTC (Quantum Tunneling Composites), which the company describes as a material type that provides a measured response to force and/or touch by changing its electrical resistance, similar to the way a dimmer light switch controls a light bulb.
Previously adopted by NASA for its Robonaut device, QTC is composed of electro-active polymeric materials made from metallic or non-metallic filler particles combined in an elastomeric binder that allow for touch to be translated into an electrical reaction. QTC can be made in a range of elastomeric forms, including emulsive coatings down to thicknesses of 10 microns, bulk silicone, or rubber and textile forms.
QTC switches and switch matrices can be screen printed allowing for development and integration of switches that are as thin as 75 microns, Peratech said. The company further noted that QTC is low power and that interfaces can be designed with no start resistance so that, without pressure, the switch draws no power and passes no current. When pressure is applied, the resistance drops in proportion to the amount of pressure to allow for human machine interface designs that react to variations in pressure.
Further, the MIT research will use Peratech's xy scanning technology, allowing the robots to detect where on a matrix of sensors applied to areas such as the forearms, shoulders, and torso they have been touched.
