Robert Shepherd and Cornell colleagues have developed an electroluminescent “skin” that stretches to more than six times its original size while emitting light. This could be used for soft robots that move more naturally, and dynamically display information, include health data. The Cornell press release invites us to imagine “a health care robot that displays a patient’s temperature and pulse, and even reacts to a patient’s mood.”
The material uses a “hyper-elastic light-emitting capacitor” made of layers of transparent hydrogel electrodes surrounding an insulating elastomer sheet. The elastomer changes luminance and capacitance when stretched or rolled. The skin allows soft robots to sense their actuated state and environment and communicate optically. Small robots can crawl.
Click to view Cornell Universty video.
Wearable Tech + Digital Health San Francisco – April 5, 2016 @ the Mission Bay Conference Center
NeuroTech San Francisco – April 6, 2016 @ the Mission Bay Conference Center
Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences
NeuroTech NYC – June 8, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences