Artificial Skin Can Be Twisted, Tickled & Pinched

When we've covered artificial skin in the past, the one thing that we've neglected: can you tickle it? Right? What fun is a robot if it can't kick in at the tickle party? So, researchers at the University of Bristol have created an interactive artificial skin.

The Skin-On interface is a multi-layer silicone membrane that mimics the layers in human skin. The skin consists of a surface textured layer, an electrode layer with conductive threads, and a hypodermis layer. It allows devices to feel your grasp, including tickling, caressing — even twisting and pinching. And that caption is on this photo with a robot being tickled, caressed, twisted and pinched. 

Now, I know that they also created a phone case and computer touchpad as part of the tech demonstration, but we all know where this is headed, right? Extremely realistic shaved cat robots. 

I understand why you might miss the story — most of the pictures just look like someone let their kid run wild at the lab with a tub of silly putty.

The university, which with collaborated with Telecomm ParisTech and Sorbonne University, also released a sizzle reel of various pinching, touching, tapping and otherwise fondling. You know, to control your phone. 

Next, the researchers are working on making the skin more realistic, including embedding hair and giving it goose bumps. 

Dr. Anne Roudaut, associate professor in human-computer interaction at the University of Bristol, supervised the research. One of the authors of the paper — Skin-on interfaces: a bio-driven approach for artificial skin design to cover interactive devices — said, “This work explores the intersection between man and machine." Yep, I'd say you nailed it.