A German research team at the Research Center for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN) at Chemnitz University of Technology has made an important step in the development of touch-sensitive electronic skins with the help of integrated artificial hair.
So-called e-skins are flexible electronic systems that attempt to imitate the sensitivity of natural human skin. The possible applications range from skin substitutes and medical sensors on the body to artificial skin for humanoid robots and androids. Until now, modern electronic skin systems lacked this ability and could not collect important information about their environment. The research team led by Professor Oliver G. Schmidt has now broken new ground to develop extremely sensitive and directional 3D magnetic field sensors that can be integrated into an e-skin system.
Tiny surface hairs have been incorporated to sense and anticipate the slightest tactile sensations on human skin, even recognizing the direction of touch. The heart of the sensor system is what is known as an anisotropic magnetoresistance sensor (AMR), which can be used to precisely determine changes in magnetic fields. AMR sensors are used today, for example, as speed sensors in cars or to determine the position and angle of moving components in a large number of machines.
“Our approach enables a precise spatial arrangement of functional sensor elements in 3D, which can be mass-produced in a parallel manufacturing process,” says Christian Becker, doctoral student at MAIN. “Such sensor systems are very difficult to manufacture using established microelectronic manufacturing methods.”