Fake skin with 'human touch'

Fake skin with 'human touch'
Researchers develop synthetic skin that is warm and soft for use in prosthetic limbs



A RESEARCHER in Singapore dreams of the day a robot will offer him a soft, warm handshake instead of a cold, hard grip.

Assistant Professor J.J. Cabibihan of the Social Robotics Laboratory in the National University of Singapore (NUS) is close to realising this, now that he and his team have found a way to mould synthetic fingers that are soft, like a human's.

But Prof Cabibihan, 33, who made a presentation at the Institute for Infocomm Research's seminar on robotics for health care on Thursday, has a more immediate use for the creation - prosthetic limbs.

He was speaking to an audience of 50 or so health-care workers, public service officers, academics, researchers and industry players at Fusionopolis near Buona Vista.

Prof Cabibihan said people who have lost their arms to accidents or disease already use rather life-like prostheses. These come flesh-coloured and even have hairs on the surface.

The problem though, he said, is that such prostheses still feel cold and stiff to the touch, so if they can be covered in the fake skin his team has developed, it 'will improve the emotional healing process and shield an amputee from social stigma'.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.