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Although it is difficult to define the qualities of pain, we all know the phenomenon when we feel it. Now scientists at RMIT University in Australia say they have created an electronic “skin” that can also feel pain. Which can be useful for making new types of skin grafts, as well as smarter robots.
RMIT University
The scientists behind the skin have been working on it for years and now say they have a working prototype. The team behind the prototype, led by Professor Madhu Bhaskaran at RMIT, recently published an analysis of their nascent prosthetic skin in Advanced smart systems.
“No electronic technology has been able to realistically mimic that very human sensation of pain, until now,” Bhaskaran said in an RMIT post coming via Futurism. “Our artificial skin reacts instantly when pressure, heat or cold reaches a painful threshold,” added the professor.
While the prototype has yet to be connected to a person’s nervous system, it is still a proof of concept. The electronic skin acts as a genuine pain sensor by combining extendable electronic components, pressure sensors, heat sensors, and memory cells.
“While some existing technologies have used electrical signals to mimic different levels of pain, these new devices can react to actual mechanical pressure, temperature and pain and deliver the correct electronic response,” Bhaskaran said in the RMIT publication. The professor added that this means that her team’s artificial skin “knows the difference between gently touching a pin with your finger or accidentally stabbing yourself with it, a fundamental distinction that has never been achieved electronically before.”
As for the way it works, the skin prototype works like real skin. Which means that the electronic tissue sends pain signals to the user’s brain when certain pressure and heat thresholds are exceeded. Electronic memory cells in the skin also mimic the way the brain uses long-term memory to recall prior sensory information.
In the future, Bhaskaran says that doctors could use artificial skin as a graft when standard approaches are not working. And while further development is needed, Bhaskaran is confident that the fundamentals of the technology, such as biocompatibility and skin-like stretchability, are “already there.”
RMIT University
What do you think of this electronic skin that can feel pain? Can you think of any uses that Bhaskaran didn’t mention? Let’s talk about futuristic dermas in the comments!
Featured Image: RMIT University
