Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed an artificial, skin-like material that provides users with realistic sensations by means of “closed-loop haptic feedback control.”
The artificial material is flexible and, being only 500 nanometers thick, can form to the user’s body. The material is lined with pneumatic actuators and simulates highly realistic tactile sensations from haptic feedback. This technology differs from other haptic feedback because it uses pressure triggered by inflated membranes instead of mechanical vibrations.
Because of this approach to haptic feedback, the skin-like material can be tweaked with a change in pressure and frequency. Electrodes in the material can interpret the changes in the user’s skin from the rapid changes of pressure in the material. This information is then fed to the micro-controller that controls the haptic sensations that the user experiences.
“This is the first time we have developed an entirely soft artificial skin where both sensors and actuators are integrated,” said Harshal Sonar, lead author of the study. “This gives us closed-loop control, which means we can accurately and reliably modulate the vibratory stimulation felt by the user. This is ideal for wearable applications, such as for testing a patient’s proprioception in medical applications.”
While Sonar has proposed that this new technology could be used in the medical field, the artificial skin could become heavily utilized in other virtual reality (VR) settings as well. In addition to being quite durable, the artificial skin can be stretched up to four times its original size, making it ideal for a variety of applications and industries that rely on immersive training, from medicine to gaming. Innovative control methods for extended reality (XR) applications, such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink N1 brain-machine interface, could prove to make everyday augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and VR applications seamless for people to use.
“The next step will be to develop a fully wearable prototype for applications in rehabilitation and virtual and augmented reality,” said Sonar. “The prototype will also be tested in neuroscientific studies, where it can be used to stimulate the human body while researchers study dynamic brain activity in magnetic resonance experiments.”
