Researchers at UNIST, the Ulsan science and technology university in South Korea, built a stretchable organic diode that reduces false signals in electronic skin for robots, the university said on 11 November.
Electronic skin holds many pressure sensors and finds the touch position from which ones are pressed. Pressing one spot can create signals in neighbouring sensors. The diode blocks that unwanted current. Every part of it is soft, so it still works when the skin stretches as a robot finger bends.
In tests, forward current was up to 22,300 times larger than reverse current within plus or minus 1 volt. It kept this behaviour after being stretched by 30% and released 1,000 times.
With a real pressure sensor, the share of signal leaking into a neighbouring sensor fell from 63.1% to 0.314%. At 30% stretch it fell from 40.0% to 0.697%.
