3D printed fingertip that 'feels' objects like a real hand

Nathan Lepora from the Department of Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol and his colleagues created

a robotic hand with a finger that can touch.This was achieved thanks to small pin-shaped papillae on the tip of the finger. They imitate the structure of the human hand - similar structures are located between the outer epidermal and inner dermal layers of the skin.

Appearance of the fingertip

The papillae are made using a state-of-the-art 3D printer, and the device can combine soft and hard materials to create complex, biological-like structures.

Our work helps to understand how complexThe internal structure of human skin helps us sense touch.  The development will help advance research in the field of 3D printing of tactile skin. In the future, there will be robots that will become more dexterous, as well as new comfortable prosthetics.

Nathan Lepora, Faculty of Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol

The authors discovered that our fingertip,3D printed can generate artificial nerve signals that are similar to the activity of real receptors. Human receptors transmit signals from various nerve endings.

When they tested the artificial fingertip, Lepore said, they found a striking match with the original human signals.

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