Tianjin University Develops New Electronic Skin for Polar Research

TapTechNews May 24th news, the team of Lei Zhang and Jing Yang from the School of Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, has successfully developed a new type of electronic skin. This skin can achieve high stretch, self-healing and high-sensitivity functions of the robotic hand in the extremely cold environment of minus 108.4°F (-78°C), which is of great significance for China to carry out polar scientific research. The relevant results have been published in the international authoritative journal Journal of the American Chemical Society.

TapTechNews learned from Tianjin University that as early as 2020, the Yang Jing team had developed the all-weather self-healing electronic skin that represented the academic frontiers at that time. Now the new-generation electronic skin has been fully upgraded and can fully adapt to the extreme environment of -78°C on the basis of the self-healing function.

The perceptual power of the robot will greatly affect the quality of polar exploration, and the electronic skin that can endow the robot with the sense of touch came into being. The electronic skin developed by Tianjin University has high stretchability and can be coated on the palm of the robot, and can accurately sense pressure, recognize the shape of objects and specific symbols, etc. at -78°C extremely cold conditions.

This electronic skin has the functions of self-repair and self-healing. After being damaged in extremely cold conditions, its sensing ability can be completely restored, which enables this skin to fully adapt to the polar extreme environment scientific research tasks. The low-temperature environment in the North and South Poles brings great risks to the life safety of explorers. The research and development of polar robots is of great significance for reducing the casualties of scientific researchers and developing unknown dangerous areas.