Skincredible... now robot arm hair reacts to touch

IT’S a scientific breakthrough which is enough to make your hair stand on end.

Experts have developed a skin for robots’ arms featuring ‘hair’ which senses touch – like humans. It even stands on end when stimulated.

The invention could be used to replace skin on burn victims. Electronic skins have been developed previously, but this is the first with integrated hairs which can sense natural touch.

The hairs are tiny sensors which are rooted magnetically into the rubberlike skin. Magnetic fields even allow robots to sense when a human is about to touch it before it actually happens.

Scientists say the technology is similar to that used in cars to determine how fast they are going. In the human body, hairs do not contain nerve endings, but follicles are surrounded by ‘touch receptors’ which respond to stimulation.

That is why we can feel it when someone touches our hair. Researchers from Germany reported their results in the journal Nature Communications.