Self-healing materials for robotics made from ’jelly’ and salt
Researchers have developed self-healing, biodegradable, 3D-printed materials that could be used in the development of realistic artificial hands and other soft robotics applications. It's a really good sensor considering how cheap and easy it is to make Thomas George-Thuruthel The low-cost jelly-like materials, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, can sense strain, temperature and humidity. And unlike earlier self-healing robots, they can also partially repair themselves at room temperature. The results are reported . Soft sensing technologies could transform robotics, tactile interfaces and wearable devices, among other applications. However, most soft sensing technologies aren't durable and consume high amounts of energy. "Incorporating soft sensors into robotics allows us to get a lot more information from them, like how strain on our muscles allows our brains to get information about the state of our bodies," said David Hardman from Cambridge's Department of Engineering, the paper's first author.
Advert