Electronic Finger Tips That Enhance The Sense Of Touch

Electronic Finger Tips That Enhance The Sense Of Touch

By Shinji Tutoru

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, ILLINOIS, USA; UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS, USA; DALIAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, LIAONING, CHINA. Wearable electronic finger tips have been developed to provide extra sensitive touch to surgeons. It gives the user the ability to receive electrotactile stimulation. At the same time, it gives a tingling sensation which is caused by a small voltage that is applied to the skin of the user.

Although we could consider our fingers as precision instruments, there are some things that they are not sensitive enough to detect at some point. With the flexible circuit, it can be worn over the fingertips which will make the sense of touch more sensitive.

John Rogers and his colleagues designed the flexible fingertip circuit. It has some layers of gold electrodes which are just a few hundred nanometres thick. These gold electrodes are positioned in between layers of polyimide plastic to form a nanomembrane. It is then placed on a silicone rubber tube that is shaped like a finger which will let the inner side of the circuit to be in direct contact with the fingertips once it is worn. At the same time, sensors can be added on the other side so it can accurately measure temperature, pressure or even electrical properties like resistance.

Right now, MC10 is the company that is commercializing the technology. They are running tests on animals by creating nanomembrane socks for the heart. That way, they will be able to get a 3D map of the electrical activity of the heart which may be useful in treating irregular heart activities. Soon, the technology will become available for different purposes that will help medical practitioners in more ways.

Invention Wearable Electronic Finger Tips
Organization Northwestern University, Illinois, USA; Dalian University of Technology, Liaoning, China; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA
Researcher John Rogers & colleagues
Field(s) Nanotechnology, Nanomembrane, Flexible Electronics, Wearable Electronics
Further Information New Scientist

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