Skin-Like Sensors Bring a Human Touch to Wearable Tech

The new AISkin could open doors to skin-like Fitbits that measure multiple body parameters, or an adhesive touchpad you can stick onto the surface of your hand, adds Liu. “It could work for athletes looking to measure the rigour of their training, or it could be a wearable touchpad to play games.”

It could also measure the progress of muscle rehabilitation. “If you were to put this material on a glove of a patient rehabilitating their hand for example, the health care workers would be able to monitor their finger-bending movements,” says Liu.

Another application is in soft robotics — flexible bots made completely out of polymers. An example is soft robotic grippers used in factories to handle delicate objects such as light bulbs or food.

The researchers envision AISkin being integrated onto soft robots to measure data, whether it’s the temperature of food or the pressure necessary to handle brittle objects.

Over the next year, Liu’s lab will be focused on further enhancing their AISkin, aiming to shrink the size of AISkin sensors through microfabrication. They’ll also add bio-sensing capabilities to the material, allowing it to measure biomolecules in body fluids such as sweat.

“If we further advance this research, this could be something we put on like a ‘smart bandage,’” says Liu. “Wound healing requires breathability, moisture balance – ionic skin feels like the natural next step.”

Contacts and sources:
Liz Do
University of Toronto Engineering

Publication: An ambient-stable and stretchable ionic skin with multimodal sensation. Binbin Ying, Qiyang Wu, Jianyu Li and Xinyu Liu. Material Horizons http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C9MH00715F