University of Glasgow engineer creates e-skin capable of feeling pain

Image by University of Glasgow

A British Indian professor from the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering led a group of researchers who have constructed an electronic skin that is capable of feeling pain.

The pathbreaking creation, under the supervision of engineer Professor Ravinder Dahiya will facilitate the creation of smart robots capable of sensitivity at par with humans. Professor Dahiya affirmed, “We all learn early on in our lives to respond appropriately to unexpected stimuli like pain in order to prevent us from hurting ourselves again. Of course, the development of this new form of electronic skin didn’t really involve inflicting pain as we know it – it’s simply a shorthand way to explain the process of learning from external stimulus.”

The research has been published in the journal ‘Science Robotics’  under the topic ‘Printed Synaptic Transistors based Electronic Skin for Robots to Feel and Learn’ by the researchers, where they explain how they invented the prototype for the computational e-skin and how it builds on the in touch-sensitive robotics that are already in existence.